


All Who Find Us Will Know The Tune

by Eternal Scribe (Shadowcat)



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Blatant Abuse Of Song Lyrics, Canonical Character Death, Dwarven Ones | Soulmates, M/M, Musicians, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-03-08 21:19:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 30,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13466748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat/pseuds/Eternal%20Scribe
Summary: They had been searching for the rest of their people for all of his life in this world... and now they are that much closer to the reunion to beat all reunions.But shadows are gathering and this reunion could be short-lived.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Banner made for me by the amazing [DamnitFili](http://damnitfili.tumblr.com)//[Girlmarvel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlmarvel)


	2. Foreward - Songs List

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A list of songs referenced throughout this work so I make sure they receive proper accreditation.
> 
> May later notate what chapter they are in.

1) _The Glory of Love_ \-- Peter Cetera  
2) _Song of the Lonely Mountain_ \-- Neil Finn  
3) _The Sound of Silence_ \-- Crosby, Stills, and Nash AND Disturbed (The boys were inspired by Disturbed's version)  
4) _Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me_ \-- Roger Daltrey  
5) _All The Way Down_ \-- Aurelio Voltaire  
6) _Wait For It_ \-- Hamilton Soundtrack  
7) _Somewhere_ \-- Within Temptation  
8) _Marry The Night_ \-- Lady Gaga


	3. Fili

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the WinterFRE2018 by GatheringFiKi on tumblr.
> 
> Prompt 151. Reincarnation AU
> 
> Lyrics used in this chapter from _The Glory Of Love_ by Peter Cetera

The first time he heard _Chasing Ravens_ perform, it was by a happy accident.

He and the rest of his bandmates and family were in various states of relaxation scattered throughout the living room of his loft apartment. All of them were tired - having just come back from a gig after also working a full day. There was pizza and beer and they had one of their favorite shows playing from the dvr on the big screen tv.

As silly as outsiders might think of it, their group never missed an episode of _Dancing With The Stars_. Oh, they all had different reasons for enjoying it, but the bottom line was they recorded every episode and then watched it together as a group. Especially after a long day or night, it was something that they could watch and relax to.

Tonight had been the beginning of the semi finals and not only did that mean they would see if any of their favorites made it to the finals, they would also see what kind of musicians they had playing the rounds of competition. They all enjoyed seeing how the musicians varied from dancer to dancer.

The first couple to perform was one of their favorites, but after the music started he wasn't the only one to lose focus on the dancers.

The song being played was the cover of a song he knew from childhood, but he had never heard it quite like this. While in his childhood the song had been a loving, mellow ballad, this version was very sensual, almost sexual. The music flowed into the room from the tv and he felt the others straightening up and focusing.

They were all of them musicians and when music spoke to your soul, there was nothing they could do but let themselves be drawn in.

If the music drew them in, it was nothing compared to the voice that began to sing.

" _Tonight it's very clear, as we're both lying here, there's so many things I want to say…_ "

If the music was sensual, then the singer's voice was downright pornographic.

"Sex through song," he heard someone, maybe Tauriel, say.

He couldn't agree more.

" _I will always love you. I would never leave you alone…_ "

The singer's voice seemed to move through him, an invisible hand stroking his fingers along his very soul. He pulled his eyes away from the tv to look at his companions, only to see them focused on the tv; waiting for the first camera pan over the mystery performer.

" _Sometimes I might forget, say things I might regret. It breaks my heart to see you crying. I don't want to lose you. I could never make it alone…_ "

The voice sank to a soft, heartstring pulling sound of almost tears before the instruments suddenly erupted in a cacophony of intensity that none of them had expected. The voice seemed to dance in and out of the music perfectly and he wanted very much to see the body that went with that amazing voice.

" _I am a man who will fight for your honor. I will be the hero that you've been dreaming of. We'll live forever, knowing together that we did it all for the glory of love…_ ”

That voice was doing very interesting things to his libido.

The camera did a quick pan over where the band stood but it was too quick to see the face of the lead singer. However, he thought he caught a glimpse of something on the side of the lead singer's neck and then something very familiar on the drumset.

He wasn't the only one.

"Fili, pause it. Back it up and pause it!"

Thorin's voice was both hopeful and a little bit panicked.

Frowning, Fili paused the video after he rewound it a little bit. That symbol on the large bass drum...

"Is that really?" Bofur's voice was soft.

"The crest of Durin," Balin commented in a stunned voice. "Altered a little with that silver raven superimposed over it. But that is definitely the crest insignia of Durin's Line."

Still frowning, Fili rewound the video further until working frame by frame he paused it on the tattoo that the studio camera had caught on their quick pan. He stared at it, feeling his breathing speed up even as he tried to calm himself.

"That tattoo..." He was surprised that his voice didn't shake.

"What about it?" Tauriel asked in confusion.

Oh. That's right. She had never seen those symbols in that far away time.

“That's Kili's old Rune," Thorin explained. "All of us dwarves had runes that identified us -- symbols of our names or who we are. That rune was tattooed on Kili's back and he etched it on his weapons and equipment."

Dori leaned forward, staring at the part of the tattoo that they could see clearly. The rest was hidden under the coat or shirt that the singer was wearing. “Could it really be him?”

Fili didn’t know what to say. Could it really be his One there on the television? The brother that he had loved and lost -- and had fought to always do the right thing for before they died in pain and blood on a battlefield so long ago?

“We won’t know until we see him,” Thorin responded, not wanting to get anyone’s hopes up. “It could be merely some kind of strange coincidence that he chose that design. Go ahead and hit play again, nephew. Maybe we’ll get more clues.”

Fili nodded and started up the show again.

“ _You keep me standing tall, you help me through it all. I’m always strong when you’re beside me. I have always needed you, I could never make it alone…_ ”

“Holy shit,” Tauriel breathed as she looked from the tv to Fili’s face. “How did they manage to turn such a cheesy ballad into something that sounds like pure sin?”

Fili gave her a weak smile and shrugged. “I don’t know, but whoever these guys are, they are fucking amazing.”

“Can you imagine the kind of music we could make if our two groups performed together?” Bofur asked. “It would be like nothing anyone has ever heard before.”

Their attentions were drawn back to the tv when the lights started giving a show that resembled a lightning storm. The music rose up in a crescendo that sounded like thunder, only to drop back down as _two_ voices rose up with the song.

“ _Like a knight in shining armor, from a long time ago. Just in time we’ll save the day, take us to our castle far away…_ ”

The voices faded away as the soft sound that all of the dwarves were intimately familiar with started rising up through the rest of the music. At first, it was the softest caress of the senses as it wove among the other instruments. All too soon, however, it found its tempo and steadily took over as the other instruments faded to a soft murmur of sound.

“A violin solo?” Tauriel breathed as she looked at Fili in amazement. “He added a violin solo to the song? How did he make it fit so seamlessly?”

Fili didn’t have an answer for her and it was at that moment that he -- they -- all got their first good look at the lead performer for the band they were listening to.

He was dressed in what looked like a very long black leather coat that buttoned at his midriff and left his upper chest bare. Tight black pants disappeared into black boots that laced up to his knee. They couldn’t see his face at first as his very long and very black hair was forming a curtain around him and the violin that he was playing as if it was an extension of his hands. He swayed from side to side as he played, and then started spinning and dancing like a tornado as his playing got faster and faster. Finally, he spun so that his hair fell back from his face as he lowered the violin to his side and sang the final lines of the song.

“ _I am the man who will fight for your honor. I’ll be the hero that you’ve been dreaming of. We’re gonna live forever, knowing together that we did all for the glory of love. We did it all for love…_ ”

Fili was riveted to the television even after the performance ended and the dance floor went black in preparation for the next competitors.

“Was it just me, or did that performance last a bit longer than they usually do?”

Fili barely heard Bombur’s question as he stared at the darkened screen.

“Kili,” he breathed out.

Because, he knew that face as clearly as he knew his own. He had lived with that face, dreamed of that face, loved that face.

There was no doubt that the missing Prince of Durin had finally been located in this new lifetime.


	4. Fili

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group gets a few more answers, but with a lot more questions.

It was two nights later and everyone was once again hanging out at Fili’s loft. He was in his bedroom doing some writing when he heard Bofur call them into the large living room.

“Hey, guys, get in here. Kili is on the television.”

When Fili entered, he took his usual seat in the large papasan chair and leaned his elbow on his knees as he looked at the screen. This time, he was able to see very clearly that the singer of the band he had been enthralled by the previous night was indeed his long lost little brother. His long lost One.

He was sitting down in one of those generic chairs done for interviews and once again, he was dressed all in black. However, instead of a bare upper chest, it now looked like he had a blue shirt beneath a short cropped jacket. A close up on his face showed that his eyes were outlined in a black eyeliner, which made his blue-green eyes pop like jewels from his face.

"Good evening, everyone. I'm Hanna Valentine and tonight we're sitting down with Corvid and Raven Chase, twin brothers and the founders of the musical group _Chasing Ravens_."

If Raven was all midnight and shadows, his fraternal twin brother was moonlight and mirrors. Where Raven was dark, Corvid --

“That’s Legolas,” Tauriel suddenly gasped, moving closer to the screen.

Corvid was light. He was dressed in a silvery white material that seemed to go well with his blue eyes. His white blonde hair hung free except for three braids of varying colors on each side of his face. He was a direct contrast to his brother and it was an interesting contrast to see.

When Fili paid close attention to the twin brother, he could see that it was indeed the elvish prince. Only in _this_ life, he was apparently Kili’s twin brother. He couldn’t help the rueful laugh as he looked over at Tauriel. It somehow seemed fitting that Tauriel was his older sister and Legolas was Kili’s twin brother in this lifetime. However, that knowledge also made him wonder how close the two really were.

"Let's start with something simple that I know all of your fans want an answer to. Raven, what color are your eyes?"

"What day is it?"

Beside him, his twin brother snorted inelegantly and Raven just grinned at him.

"I'm sorry?"

"What day is it?"

"What does the day have to do with your eye color?"

It was his brother that answered. "Raven changes his eye color depending on the day or his mood or what kind of theme we might have for a performance. He has a very large collection of colored contact lenses to choose from. Since today is Thursday, his eyes are teal."

"Okay, but what is your real eye color, Raven?"

"Teal." The grin he gave her was anything but apologetic.

In Fili's living room, everyone laughed. That mischievous attitude was definitely all original Kili.

“Which of you is the oldest?”

“That would be me,” Corvid said with a smug look at his brother.

“Yeah, Corvid was so impatient to see the world that he made it out a whole ninety seconds before I did.”

“Still makes me the eldest.”

“That doesn’t even count as a real difference!”

“Except that it says I’m the older, more mature --”

“So not!”

“And just how old are the two of you?”

“We just turned twenty-one.”

“Five years younger,” Fili muttered. “Again, just like before.”

"Why make your first television debut on _Dancing With The Stars_?"

"Why not?" Raven gave a careless shrug. "Dancers are artists, too. They have an appreciation for music."

Corvid nodded. "They work just as hard at their craft as we do but they never seem to get as much acclaim for all of the hard work they do. We knew they'd appreciate our music as much as we respect their talent."

"Is it true that you guys' mother is _the_ Desiree Chase of _Chase International_?"

"Well if she isn't then Cor and I have some serious questions to ask her."

"Are Corvid and Raven really your legal names?"

"It's what it says on our birth certificates," Corvid responded dryly. “Mom has always been very eclectic in a lot of ways and she always referred to us as her birds.”

"I bet kids at school weren't very easy on you guys with names like that."

There was a subtle tightening around Raven's eyes and Corvid's jaw clenched.

Fili wasn't the only one that noticed the subtle changes in the twins. Tauriel looked concerned and Thorin looked unhappy. He looked more than unhappy, he looked annoyed as hell.

The interviewer did not notice, however, and kept to the topic.

"So did you guys deal with a lot of bullying growing up?"

"It was fine," Raven answered. "It was kid stuff. We grew past it. There’s no point in dwelling on something so unimportant."

Thorin didn't buy that for a minute, but he didn't comment as the interview went on. He was really not enjoying seeing how his youngest nephew was reacting to the questions being asked. There were a lot of things that he didn’t know and he wasn’t liking the feeling.

"Why the name, _Chasing Ravens_?"

"That was all mom's idea, actually," Corvid said as he smiled lightly.

"Oh?"

Raven nodded. "It was both a play on our names as well as a kind of ancient blessing saying that fame and success would chase after us instead of us always having to chase after it."

"It's supposed to allow us to focus more on our craft and talent and less on the stress of worrying what will happen from day to day."

"What do you mean by worrying? Your mother is one of the richest women in the country. Surely that affords you less need to struggle."

There was no ignoring how annoyed that comment made the twins.

"Our family wasn't always flush with money, Hanna," Corvid said in a warning tone. "A lot of people seem to think we had it easy growing up. We didn't."

"Mom has always been the most amazing woman. She struggled to take care of us and make sure we had what we needed growing up. She worked two jobs as well as taking care of us, put herself through night school and put her own backside through the wringer trying to get her business ideas to come to fruition." It was obvious that Raven adored their mother and respected her. "She's always been our super hero. We would never have been able to go after own dreams without her love, her sacrifices when we were kids and all of the things she has always taught Cor and I. She taught us to work hard and fight for what we believe in and what we want."

"Okay, Cor --"

"Corvid."

"What?"

"Corvid. Only the people in my family call me Cor."

"Alright, then, Corvid, what kind of influence did your dad have on your desires to become musicians?"

"None whatsoever."

"Why is that?"

"We don't talk about our father," Corvid's tone was tense.

Raven reached out to place a comforting hand on his twin’s arm. "He disappeared from our lives when we were three. If he's had any impact on us today it was to teach us that you have to be careful who you put your trust in or rely on."

"Oh you poor, sad Princeling," Radagast said from where he was sitting at Dori's feet and getting his hair braided. "No youngling should ever have to learn such a thing."

"Switching topics, what made you guys decide to make a remake of Peter Cetera's song, _Glory of Love_? That song was pretty popular in the early 80s and seems like such an odd choice for you guys."

"I liked the lyrics, to be perfectly honest. They spoke to me with how sincere they are about real love. The song hearkens back to a simpler time where love, devotion, honor and chivalry were the standards and not the exception." Raven looked at Corvid, who nodded in agreement. "I also knew that we could do something really special with it."

"Speaking of love, are you boys dating anyone seriously?"

Fili's breath hitched at the question even as the twins shook their heads in unison.

"Cor and I are too busy with our work. Besides, I haven't located my One, yet."

"Your One?"

"My one true love, my soul mate, the other half of me. Every person has the perfect partner created for them by the gods. I haven't found my One and I won't be with anyone but them."

Fili was sure he was imagining things, but he could swear that Kili was looking directly into the camera and into his own soul as he said those words.


	5. Kili

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we travel to the opposite coast and see what the band with the Durin crest emblem and the Dwarven Rune tattoo are up to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is probably going to be several parts where we are switching back and forth between POVs and seeing things from the perspective of both Fili and Kili until they reach something.

The dark-haired man ran the soft cloth over his face again, pausing only once to look into the large mirror over the sink. He was trying to clean off the thick stage make-up he had worn for far too long today. His entire body still seemed to be trembling all over from the adrenaline high of their performance. There was a buzzing in his head and he could hear the voices of his bandmates and family as they celebrated in the outer rooms of the hotel suite.

“Kee!” His brother knocked loudly on the door to the bathroom. “Mom’s on Skype and you know that we have to be quick to talk to her before she and D get started!”

Kili laughed at his twin’s tone of voice, hanging the towel he had used to dry his face on the rod next to the sink. “Give them a break, Legs. It can’t be easy for them to be separated like this.”

“I’d give them that if they were still newlyweds,” his brother commented as Kili exited the bathroom. “But it’s been three years since they married. They should be past all of this overly sweet and mooning behavior.”

“Did you just say _mooning_ in a sentence?” Kili shook his head. “I’ll remind you about these comments and opinions when we finally reunite you with your One again, Legs.”

Legolas snorted. “Will that be before or after we locate yours, Kee?”

Kili’s lips twitched and he shrugged slightly. “I wish I knew, brother. I would have thought that we would have been able to find the others by now. It’s been five years since we all started remembering everything clearly and coming together. What if they don’t remember? Even worse, what if they’re not actually here with us in this time? What if we’re not meant --”

“Stop,” Legolas said quietly, pulling his twin close to him and hugging him tightly. “We will find them, Kili. We will. There is no way that we would have started remembering all of those things from the past if we weren’t meant to reunite with them again.”

He sighed, closing his eyes as he leaned his head against the side of his brother’s. “I’m trying to keep the belief, but when we keep encountering dead end after dead end it gets hard to continue believing.”

“I know,” Legolas agreed with him. “But, Kee, look at everything we have already gone through and you have survived! We’re meant to find them, and we will. And this time there will be no death or intrigue to part us from who we love.”

Kili swallowed, then nodded before opening his eyes again. “Come on, we should go say hello to Mom before D. runs off with the laptop to his room.”

The two brothers walked into the living room of the suite and wore matching grins when they were greeted by their bandmates and crew.

“Boys, get over here and say hello to your mother,” their brawny drummer and sometimes head of security called out to them. “You keep her waiting any longer and we’re leaving.”

“One of these days we are going to be able to measure up to your lofty example of patience,” Legolas smirked as he and Kili took seats at the table to greet the woman grinning back at them through the screen. “Hello, Mom.”

“There’s my little pebbles,” Desiree Chase greeted her sons, laughter showing in her bright blue eyes. “I miss you.”

“We miss you, too, Mom,” Kili said with a smile. “How are things at home?”

“The dogs are lonely and of course miss you boys,” their mother answered them. “Poor things, but I’m doing my best to give them love and keep them happy.”

“Which translates to you are spoiling them horribly and they are sleeping with you at night,” Legolas said with a laugh.

“Wait, what?” The drummer’s voice spoke up from behind them. “Don’t tell me that those flea bags are up in my bed!”

Desiree waved off her husband’s comment to look back at her twin sons. “I saw your performance tonight and it was downright amazing, as I knew it would be. No one would have known that you were so nervous about this that you were throwing up everything you had ever eaten two hours before, Kili.”

Kili smiled and then gave another one of his slight shrugs. “I was a mess up there, but I’m glad that apparently no one else could tell. I kept thinking that I was going to miss a note or forget the lyrics.”

“But you didn’t and you never do,” Legolas told him softly. “How is it that you are such an amazing musician and get such horrible stage fright before we perform anywhere?”

“I don’t know. I just start to shake and I get this horrible pain in my chest like I’m being stabbed.”

Neither twin saw their drummer’s eyes widen in alarm as he met the eyes of their mother through the camera. He shook his head at her minutely and then looked at the boys.

“Are you remembering more, lad?”

Kili shook his head even as Legolas jerked his head up in alarm to stare at his twin worriedly.

“No, nothing new since last week when I woke up from seeing the fires all around me. It could have been anything -- a memory from before or a memory from the accident.”

The temperature dropped in the room as everyone took in the words _accident_. They were all well aware that what had happened to their youngest member years ago had been anything but an accident. However, they also knew that he referred to it that way to keep his brother and mom from being upset about it.

“You need to eat more,” Desiree said. “Both of you do. You looked too thin on the show tonight.”

Legolas laughed. “Mom, we eat.”

“Junk food, I bet, Corvid. You look to have lost weight.”

“They don’t eat only junk food, Des,” their drummer said. “You know I look after them and Gareth wouldn’t allow them to fill up on junk food even if I didn’t.”

“That’s because Gareth is a very sensible man and knows what will happen to him if he lets anything happen to my birds while they’re in his care.”

“That’s only part of it,” their manager agreed from where he was sitting at one of the tables with his laptop. “I also happen to care a great deal about these boys, as well you know, Desiree Chase.” 

“Speaking of my beloved birds,” Desiree said as she focused back on the twins. “Have you decided whether or not the two of you are going on that musical news program Gimli was speaking to you about?”

Kili huffed and then sighed. “There’s no reason for us not to go on it,” he admitted. “It’s an all access show and with those kinds of audiences, it will garner us some more exposure in the field and get our name and our music out there.”

“But?” Their mother looked concerned. “Talk to me, Raven. What is bothering you?”

“I don’t know, honestly, Mom. I just have this feeling of dread when I think about going on that show, but we also know how my anxiety can get about some things.” He managed to smile. “Besides, you know how sick with nerves I was before going on _Dancing_ tonight, so it may just be that my nerves are running away with me again.” 

“And maybe going on the show will put us that much closer to finding everything we’ve been searching for,” Legolas murmured low.

Kili nodded slightly, agreeing with his twin.

 

Which was why, two days later, the boys found themselves sitting across from the most annoying woman that they had ever encountered.


	6. Kili

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The interview from Kili's point of view.

Within a few minutes of their arrival, Kili knew he should never have agreed to this interview. The woman was touching his arm or his brother’s arm just a little too often and her voice didn’t have a shred of sincerity or realism in it.

"Good evening, everyone. I'm Hanna Valentine and tonight we're sitting down with Corvid and Raven Chase, twin brothers and the founders of the musical group _Chasing Ravens_."

Kili shifted slightly in his chair, hiding his unease from the interviewer and the cameras. He didn’t like any of what he was feeling at all and he could tell that his twin was picking up on his unease and dislike. Legolas leaned his knee against Kili’s twitching one in an attempt to comfort and calm him.

Before he had much time to think about how he needed to get out of this studio, the interview was beginning in earnest.

"Let's start with something simple that I know all of your fans want an answer to. Raven, what color are your eyes?"

Kili went into showman mode and smiled slowly as he looked at the woman across from them. He was a good actor when he needed to be and he poured all of that knowledge and ability into his affect now.

"What day is it?"

Beside him, Legolas snorted inelegantly and Kili just grinned at him. He was very well aware of what kind of image he and his brother were projecting right now and it was fine with him. It would make this whole time pass a lot damn quicker so they could bail out on this pretentious woman.

"I'm sorry?" It was obvious that Miss Hanna Valentine had not expected that answer and for a moment, Kili enjoyed seeing that she was slightly off-kilter.

"What day is it?"

"What does the day have to do with your eye color?"

It was his brother that answered. "Raven changes his eye color depending on the day or his mood or what kind of theme we might have for a performance. He has a very large collection of colored contact lenses to choose from. Since today is Thursday, his eyes are teal."

"Okay, but what is your real eye color, Raven?"

"Teal." The grin he gave her was anything but apologetic He could feel rather than hear Legolas smirking at his side.

Hanna didn’t look like she appreciated their answer or that she got the joke, but Kili wasn’t going to change who he was or make up answers for this woman.

“Which of you is the oldest?”

“That would be me,” Legolas said giving Kili a smug look..

“Yeah, Corvid was so impatient to see the world that he made it out a whole ninety seconds before I did.”

“Still makes me the eldest.”

“That doesn’t even count as a real difference!”

“Except that it says I’m the older, more mature --”

“So not!”

It was relaxing for the two of them to have this same mock argument that they always had. They did this in just about every interview they had been a part of back home and it helped them be able to deal with any kind of discomfort the interviewers might cause.

“And just how old are the two of you?”

“We just turned twenty-one.”

Of course, even with them being only twenty-one, Kili and Legolas both left it unspoken that they they actually felt so much older than their years.

"Why make your first television debut on _Dancing With The Stars_?"

"Why not?" Kili gave a careless shrug, doing his best not to be snarky with what might have been an honest and curious question. "Dancers are artists, too. They have an appreciation for music."

Legolas nodded, tapping his fingers against the armrest of his chair as he spoke to the camera. "They work just as hard at their craft as we do but they never seem to get as much acclaim for all of the hard work they do. We knew they'd appreciate our music as much as we respect their talent."

"Is it true that you guys' mother is _the_ Desiree Chase of _Chase International_?"

"Well if she isn't then Cor and I have some serious questions to ask her."

"Are Corvid and Raven really your legal names?"

"It's what it says on our birth certificates," Corvid responded dryly. “Mom has always been very eclectic in a lot of ways and she always referred to us as her birds.”

"I bet kids at school weren't very easy on you guys with names like that."

Kili could see Legolas clenching his jaw out of the corner of his eye. They hated talking about the things that happened in school or as they were growing up around other kids.

“We didn’t let it get to us,” Legolas finally said, hoping she would move on.

They had no such luck on this.

"So did you guys deal with a lot of bullying growing up?"

"It was fine," Kili answered. "It was kid stuff. We grew past it. There’s no point in dwelling on something so unimportant."  
"Why the name, _Chasing Ravens_?"

"That was all mom's idea, actually," Legolas said as he smiled lightly.

"Oh?"

Kili nodded, also smiling. "It was both a play on our names as well as a kind of ancient blessing saying that fame and success would chase after us instead of us always having to chase after it."

"It's supposed to allow us to focus more on our craft and talent and less on the stress of worrying what will happen from day to day."

"What do you mean by worrying? Your mother is one of the richest women in the country. Surely that affords you less need to struggle."

Kili had to bite back a growl at those words and he knew that Legolas was having the same reaction. It always pissed him off when people decided to assume things about their family. It was only the cameras and the fact that this was a live interview that kept him from snapping at her about this.

"Our family wasn't always flush with money, Hanna," Legolas said in a warning tone. "A lot of people seem to think we had it easy growing up. We didn't."

"Mom has always been the most amazing woman. She struggled to take care of us and make sure we had what we needed growing up. She worked two jobs as well as taking care of us, put herself through night school and put her own backside through the wringer trying to get her business ideas to come to fruition." Kili adored their mother and he respected her and admired her for everything that she had done and how she had managed to raise them and become so successful.. "She's always been our super hero. We would never have been able to go after own dreams without her love, her sacrifices when we were kids and all of the things she has always taught Cor and I. She taught us to work hard and fight for what we believe in and what we want."

"Okay, Cor --"

"Corvid."

"What?"

"Corvid. Only the people in my family call me Cor."

"Alright, then, Corvid, what kind of influence did your dad have on your desires to become musicians?"

"None whatsoever."

"Why is that?"

"We don't talk about our father," Legolas's tone was tense and Kili picked up the telltale tremor in his voice that always happened when they were forced to answer questions about their missing father.

Kili reached out to place a comforting hand on his twin’s arm. "He disappeared from our lives when we were three. If he's had any impact on us today it was to teach us that you have to be careful who you put your trust in or rely on."

After a few moments, he felt Legolas stop the tremors and he released his arm to turn back to Hanna Valentine again.

"Switching topics, what made you guys decide to make a remake of Peter Cetera's song, _Glory of Love_? That song was pretty popular in the early 80s and seems like such an odd choice for you guys."

Kili smiled, relaxing a little bit again. These were the kind of questions that were easy for them to answer. They loved talking about the creative process and how they came up with the ideas for their music.

"I liked the lyrics, to be perfectly honest. They spoke to me with how sincere they are about real love. The song hearkens back to a simpler time where love, devotion, honor and chivalry were the standards and not the exception." Hanna turned from Kili to look at Corvid, who nodded in agreement. "I also knew that we could do something really special with it."

"Speaking of love, are you boys dating anyone seriously?"

The twins almost laughed out loud, but managed to keep that reaction locked inside them.

"Cor and I are too busy with our work. Besides, I haven't located my One, yet."

"Your One?"

"My one true love, my soul mate, the other half of me. Every person has the perfect partner created for them by the gods. I haven't found my One and I won't be with anyone but them."

Kili knew that he had never spoken a truer fact in his life.

"That sounds so romantic. I bet you will have plenty of people trying to get close to you in hopes of becoming your One."

"You don't become someone's One just because you want to," Legolas interjected, trying to keep his annoyance out of his voice. "You either are or you aren't. There's no middle ground or transition. It just is."

"But how do you keep the crazies away from you? You don't seem to have any security team or bodyguards with you."

The twins looked at each other and then just laughed.

"Haven’t you seen the other guys in the group?" Legolas asked. "We don't need bodyguards. Our friends and family are the only security that we need."

"Besides, no one would be able to get past Mom."

"On the subject of security, let's talk about Avery Chase."

This time it was Legolas who growled low in his throat while Kili felt bands pressure wrapping around his chest as he tried to fight off the anxiety attack he could feel coming.


	7. Fili

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to the East Coast Crew.

"On the subject of security, let's talk about Avery Chase."

Everyone at Fili's watched in shock as twin masks of stone seemed to settle over the features of the brothers. Their smiles were gone and both of them had clenched their jaws. Corvid’s eyes looked like ice.

"No."

"But Raven, your uncle was responsible for the accident that almost killed you and put you into a coma for six months when you were only sixteen. I mean, that has to have left a pretty lasting impression on you and your music, but it doesn’t seem to have slowed you down physically in any way."

A strangled sound of pain pulled itself from Fili's throat as he heard the others in the room react to that news.

_Kili, almost killed? And in a coma for six months?!_

"We do not talk about Avery," Corvid said in a cold tone. "Ever. Not under any circumstance."

"What about your cousin, Brad?"

"No."

"People want to know about your accident, Raven."

"Google is a wonderful thing," Raven's words were even, but Fili could see from his face that he was feeling anything but steady. He seemed to have several of the same tells that he had in their previous life. "They can use the keywords Chase, car accident, tree, canyon and fire. I bet they find all kinds of coverage about what happened."

Distantly, Fili heard someone open another laptop and then the sound of fingers flying over the keyboard. He didn't take his eyes off of the video interview.

"Corvid, is it true that you turned down your scholarship to Juilliard?"

"Yes."

"Why? It's a very prestigious performing arts school for music. It seems it would have been perfect for you."

The look Corvid gave her was decidedly unfriendly.

"I wasn't leaving my brother. Raven got cheated out of using his scholarship because of what happened so I didn't go, either. It wasn't a hard decision."

"Most people wouldn't refuse that kind of opportunity."

"Most people don't put family first."

“But --”

“Hanna,” Corvid’s voice was full of a clear warning. “If you want this interview to continue so that you get the ratings that you would like to bring in for your show, then I suggest that you stop trying to pursue this line of questioning. We are not going to discuss the accident in any way or form, so you should stop trying to find ways to circle back to it.” He reached out a hand to place on his twin’s shoulder, easing him back in his chair. “The topic is off limits and I will have us leave before I allow you to continue upsetting my brother and I this way.”

Fili was pulled from the interview by a choked noise to the side of him and he saw Bofur staring at something on his laptop screen. The man’s face had gone very pale and he had bitten into the fist at his mouth.

“Bofur?”

His friend looked at him and then shook his head. “No. After the show is over.”

The rest of them turned to Bofur, with Balin trying to look over his shoulder, but Bofur closed the laptop lid and shook his head again. “After. Trust me.”

Thorin raised an eyebrow. “Bofur?”

“It’s bad and I would rather we watch this and see how he is now -- that he is healed and healthy -- before we delve into what he has survived and flourished from.”

They all exchanged looks and then sighed. If it was upsetting the usually laid back Bofur, then whatever happened to Kili before this had to have been much worse than they had all been imagining since hearing the interviewer say that he had been in a coma for six months.

Fili’s attention was pulled back to the television when the interviewer started speaking again.

“So, your very first album comes out on Tuesday. You gave us an advance copy and I have to say that I’m amazed at the eclecticness of the songs you chose for your debut. You seem to have an even split between covers of songs and original compositions. What made you guys decide on that route?”

“It was actually our manager’s suggestion,” Corvid answered. “We’ve done several covers over the years and Gareth thought it was only fair that we showcased that we could not only write our own stuff, but give other songs a complete makeover into something new, as well.”

“But, your covers are from all over the musical spectrum, correct?”

“Yes, except for rap songs. We never cover anything rap.”

“Why not?”

“Because we are very very bad at it,” Raven said with a smile. “We tried a few times and then wisely decided to leave it to the professionals who could do a much better job that we could ever hope to.”

There was muted laughter in the studio audience over Raven’s honest response.

“Let’s talk about _Song of the Lonely Mountain_. It’s the one song that stood out from your originals on the album as sounding completely unlike anything else you guys have done.” Hanna smiled. “What’s the story behind that one?”

Raven shrugged. “There’s really no magical story. It’s one of those songs that I’ve heard in my head since I was a toddler. It seemed fitting that it should go on our first album.”

“That seems like quite the risk for an unestablished group trying to make a big name for themselves in the industry. Was there push back about it from the rest of the group?”

Raven and Corvid looked confused for a moment and then laughed softly.

“No, see, I’m not sure that you understand how our group works,” Corvid explained. “Everyone gets a vote about what we sing during a performance or what we try to market.”

“But you and Raven are the main voices.”

“So? That’s because, for some reason, the others decided Raven should be the front man and I’m his supporting vocalist. They’re happy to focus on their instruments and adding their voices to the songs that benefit from the additional voices.”

“We’re a family. We don’t do anything without making sure everyone is on board. It makes things run that much more smoothly.” Raven shrugged. “Corvid and I may be the faces of the band and my voice may be the one they all point to, but we’re a team and none of us could make this all work out alone.”

“He really, really does not seem to like this reporter,” Tauriel said as she studied the twins on the screen.

“Can you blame him?” Gloin questioned. “She seems to take great joy in trying to find a weakness to exploit with the boys. They’re not giving an inch.”

“Raven, I’ve heard that you can speak several languages, besides English and music. How many languages do you actually speak?”

“I speak eight languages other than English.”

“Eight? That’s… wow, that’s amazing. What languages do you speak?”

“Gaelic, Greek, French, Italian, Latin, Spanish and two ancient languages.” He smiled. “I’m trying to decide on the next one I should study and learn. If you stop learning things in this world, then you stop living. I don’t plan to stop living for a very long time.”

There was silence in the loft as that kind of knowledge being applied to Kili shocked them all a little bit. In his last life, he hadn’t been very dedicated to his studies except for certain exceptions.

“Okay. Corvid, how about you. How many languages do you speak?”

“The same ones as Raven. It helps us be able to communicate when we want to talk about something and there are too many people around us that are paying too much attention to what everyone else is doing.” He grinned. “We want to learn Romanian, but it’s hard to find the correct materials to use for that.”

“We’ve seen that Raven plays the violin and Corvid plays guitar, but are there other instruments you play and do any of these feature in the songs on your album?”

“Raven plays the violin, fiddle, guitar, piano and organ. He’s currently learning to play the cello. I play bass guitar, regular guitar, harp, flute, and keyboards.”

“That’s a little unbelievable. You two are only twenty-one and yet you can play so many instruments. Some people might doubt the validity of your claim.”

Corvid’s eyes flashed, but Raven placed a hand on his arm to calm him down.

“Music has always been pretty important to us and our family, Hanna,” Raven commented. “It was often easier to communicate with the world through an instrument than in any other way. Music was a really good escape for us for most of our lives.” He shrugged. “We come by our musical talent honestly from our blood and then we have applied ourselves to our craft since we were old enough to hold an instrument.”

Hanna seemed to realize she had insulted the twins and shifted her conversation.

“I know that you’re going to perform for us at the end of the interview, but can you give us a sampling of something from your album without holding an instrument?”

Raven looked at Corvid and said something in a language that no one else seemed to be able to identify in the studio. Corvid responded in the same language instantly and nodded at his brother. Fili saw Tauriel tense and lean forward, but before he could comment on it, Raven and Corvid faced the interviewer and the cameras again. In the same breath, they started to sing… and Fili’s heart swelled in his chest.

“ _Fiery Mountain beneath the moon, the words unspoken we’ll be there soon. For home a song that echoes on and all who find us will know the tune. Some folk we will never forget, some kind we will never forgive. Haven’t seen the back of us yet, we’ll fight as long as we live. Far over the misty mountains rise, leave us standing upon the heights. What was before, we see once more. Our kingdom a distant light._ ”


	8. Kili

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Panic attacks and thoughts of violence in the television studio.

Kili could feel his heart speed up and the edges of his vision go black as he fought the panic attack that Hanna’s surprise question had triggered. He hadn’t prepared… hadn’t thought he would need to deal with this. His hands were shaking and there was a roaring in his ears. He thought he heard Legolas say something, but he couldn’t make it out clearly. He couldn’t… he couldn’t do this.

“No,” there was anger underlying his brother’s words.

"But Raven, your uncle was responsible for the accident that almost killed you and put you into a coma for six months when you were only sixteen. I mean, that has to have left a pretty lasting impression on you and your music, but it doesn’t seem to have slowed you down physically in any way."

“We do not talk about Avery. Ever.” Legolas’ voice as cold as ice. “Not under any circumstances.”

"What about your cousin, Brad?"

"No."

"People want to know about your accident, Raven."

"Google is a wonderful thing," Kili forced his voice to be as even as he could make it with all of the emotions running through him and the panic he was fighting against. "They can use the keywords Chase, car accident, tree, canyon and fire. I bet they find all kinds of coverage about what happened."

_Fight_ or _Flight_ were not just abstract concepts to him right now. They were things that had breath and life and only the feel of his brother’s hand anchoring him in place kept him from running as fast and as far as he could right now.

He had been wrong. He couldn’t do this. He wasn’t able to handle events like this and he was having a hard time breathing.

"Corvid, is it true that you turned down your scholarship to Juilliard?"

"Yes."

"Why? It's a very prestigious performing arts school for music. It seems it would have been perfect for you."

Hanna’s voice was becoming very grating as it scraped along Kili’s nerves and he could tell that it was pushing his twin closer and closer to the edge of violence.

He looked up in time to see that the look Legolas gave her was decidedly unfriendly.

"I wasn't leaving my brother. Raven got cheated out of using his scholarship because of what happened so I didn't go, either. It wasn't a hard decision."

"Most people wouldn't refuse that kind of opportunity."

"Most people don't put family first."

“But --”

“Hanna,” Legolas’s voice was full of a clear warning and Kili could detect the thread of violence underlying his every word. “If you want this interview to continue so that you get the ratings that you would like to bring in for your show, then I suggest that you stop trying to pursue this line of questioning. We are not going to discuss the accident in any way or form, so you should stop trying to find ways to circle back to it.” He reached out a hand to place on his twin’s shoulder, easing him back in his chair. “The topic is off limits and I will have us leave before I allow you to continue upsetting my brother and I this way.”

Kili did his best to breathe and focus on the fact that he was safe and he was alive. He wasn’t alone. Legolas was right here next to him and others of the band were in the studio waiting room right outside those double doors. He could get through this interview. He could do the best acting job of his life and then he would never have to see this woman again.

The trembling did not go away completely, but he found that he was able to get it under enough control that no one besides his twin would be able to notice it.

“So, your very first album comes out on Tuesday,” Hanna said far too cheerfully and Kili was entertaining himself by imagining his mother meeting this woman and shaking her to within an inch of her life. “You gave us an advance copy and I have to say that I’m amazed at the eclecticness of the songs you chose for your debut. You seem to have an even split between covers of songs and original compositions. What made you guys decide on that route?”

“It was actually our manager’s suggestion,” Legolas answered while Kili was imagining their mother committing violence against their interviewer. “We’ve done several covers over the years and Gareth thought it was only fair that we showcased that we could not only write our own stuff, but give other songs a complete makeover into something new, as well.”

“But, your covers are from all over the musical spectrum, correct?”

“Yes, except for rap songs. We never cover anything rap.”

“Why not?”

“Because we are very very bad at it,” Kili was able to say with a slight smile. “We tried a few times and then wisely decided to leave it to the professionals who could do a much better job that we could ever hope to.”

There was muted laughter in the studio audience over Kili’s honest response. However amusing the answer was, it was also very true. They had tried a few times and it was just so unnatural and disjointed coming from their voices that they had quickly given up the idea of integrating rap into some of their performances.

“Let’s talk about _Song of the Lonely Mountain_. It’s the one song that stood out from your originals on the album as sounding completely unlike anything else you guys have done.” Hanna smiled. “What’s the story behind that one?”

Kili felt himself perk up even as he shrugged for the camera. “There’s really no magical story. It’s one of those songs that I’ve heard in my head since I was a toddler. It seemed fitting that it should go on our first album.”

There was so much more to the story of the song but Kili was not about to share any of his secrets with this woman.

“That seems like quite the risk for an unestablished group trying to make a big name for themselves in the industry. Was there push back about it from the rest of the group?”

Kili and Legolas looked at each other in confusion for a moment and then laughed softly.

“No, see, I’m not sure that you understand how our group works,” Legolas explained. “Everyone gets a vote about what we sing during a performance or what we try to market.”

“But you and Raven are the main voices.”

“So? That’s because, for some reason, the others decided Raven should be the front man and I’m his supporting vocalist. They’re happy to focus on their instruments and adding their voices to the songs that benefit from the additional voices.”

“We’re a family. We don’t do anything without making sure everyone is on board. It makes things run that much more smoothly.” Kili shrugged again, then leaned back in the chair. “Corvid and I may be the faces of the band and my voice may be the one they all point to, but we’re a team and none of us could make this all work out alone.”

“Raven, I’ve heard that you can speak several languages, besides English and music. How many languages do you actually speak?”

Kili couldn’t help the smirk that spread across his face.

“I speak eight languages other than English.” _Take that, you annoying, self-righteous cow._

“Eight? That’s… wow, that’s amazing. What languages do you speak?”

“Gaelic, Greek, French, Italian, Latin, Spanish and two ancient languages.” He smiled. “I’m trying to decide on the next one I should study and learn. If you stop learning things in this world, then you stop living. I don’t plan to stop living for a very long time.”

“Okay. Corvid, how about you. How many languages do you speak?”

“The same ones as Raven. It helps us be able to communicate when we want to talk about something and there are too many people around us that are paying too much attention to what everyone else is doing.” He grinned. “We want to learn Romanian, but it’s hard to find the correct materials to use for that.”

“We’ve seen that Raven plays the violin and Corvid plays guitar, but are there other instruments you play and do any of these feature in the songs on your album?”

“Raven plays the violin, fiddle, guitar, piano and organ. He’s currently learning to play the cello. I play bass guitar, regular guitar, harp, flute, and keyboards.”

“That’s a little unbelievable. You two are only twenty-one and yet you can play so many instruments. Some people might doubt the validity of your claim.”

Legolas’s eyes flashed and his jaw stiffened, but Kili placed a hand on his arm to calm him down.

“Music has always been pretty important to us and our family, Hanna,” Kili commented. “It was often easier to communicate with the world through an instrument than in any other way. Music was a really good escape for us for most of our lives.” He shrugged. “We come by our musical talent honestly from our blood and then we have applied ourselves to our craft since we were old enough to hold an instrument.”

Hanna seemed to realize she had insulted the two of them and shifted her conversation. Kili was relieved because he knew that as much as she was upsetting him, she was scraping against his twin’s dangerous temper with the way she was acting and treating them. There was nothing honest within her and each move was a carefully orchestrated game to see what she could get the twins to reveal.

They never dealt well with people like her. They’d been harmed too many times.

“I know that you’re going to perform for us at the end of the interview, but can you give us a sampling of something from your album without holding an instrument?”

Kili’s lips twitched and he looked at Legolas, speaking to him in a language that no one in the studio would be able to identify.

“ _Song of the Lonely Mountain? It doesn’t take any kind of preparation time._ ”

“ _Ok, yeah. It’s perfect and maybe it will distract her enough to get out of our faces and let us perform like the promised we could._ ”

“ _I doubt anything could distract that bitch from whatever she’s after with us, but we can focus on what we do best… the music._ ”

Legolas nodded in agreement and then in a simple, mirrored movement, the twins turned and looked into the cameras. Their voices was low and mellow as they began the song without any kind of preparation.

“ _Fiery Mountain beneath the moon, the words unspoken we’ll be there soon. For home a song that echoes on, and all who find us will know the tune. Some folk we will never forget, some kind we will never forgive. Haven’t seen the back of us yet, we’ll fight as long as we live. Far over the misty mountains rise, leave us standing upon the heights. What was before, we see once more. Our kingdom a distant light._ ”

Their last note had faded completely away before Hanna was able to clear her throat and find the words to continue with the show.

“Wow. That is truly a beautiful song and your voices blended so well with the emotion.”

“We’ve been singing it all of our lives,” Legolas reminded her.

“And you can’t tell us where the song came from?”

“Not even a little. It’s something my brother has been singing since he could talk and when he taught it to me it stuck with me, too.”

“It was almost like I was reliving a memory from somewhere, but I couldn’t think where the memory came from.”

Hanna smiled and looked into the camera. “It’s time now for a commercial break, but we’ll return with more from Corvid and Raven Chase, founders of the musical group, _Chasing Ravens_.”


	9. Fili

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The more they see and hear, the more questions they end up having.

When the first commercial came on, Fili looked at Tauriel. “What was wrong when they were speaking? You got all tense.”

“That’s because I haven’t heard Sindarin spoken that effortlessly and naturally between two people since before my death.” She shook her head. “It caught me off guard. I wonder how they managed to learn it?”

“Maybe it was something that was already in Legolas’ subconscious like it was with you?”

“Maybe, but how did he teach Kili, then? I remember teaching you it and it was a nightmare for both of us. We have never have been able to speak it like they just did.”

Fili quirked a grin. “It seems that in this life, Kili is a lot less thick skulled than he was before.” His grin faded a little as he turned to look at his uncle.

Thorin’s hands were gripping the arms of his chair and he was still staring at the television.

“Uncle?”

“He remembers the mountain,” Thorin said softly. “Kili sang of Erebor.” He looked around at their gathered group and then back at the television. “Does that mean he remembers who he is or is it something else?”

“We won’t know until we meet him,” Bilbo said as he entered the living room with a tray of drinks. He left and returned with several boxes of pizza. “I took the liberty of ordering lunch since I didn’t expect anyone else was thinking of it.” He came and sat on the arm of Thorin’s chair. “So, what did I miss while I was at the office?”

“I don’t know why you still insist on working there,” Thorin grumbled, his attention diverted -- just as Fili knew had been Bilbo’s intention. “You don’t need the money.”

“Stubborn dwarf,” Bilbo said easily as he forced Thorin to relax his hands. “I like my job.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, I am not a dwarf any longer.”

Bilbo gave him a saucy grin. “Your soul is still dwarven and no matter what you look like you will always be my stubborn dwarf.”

“Kili has a twin brother in this lifetime,” Balin said as he reached for a drink. “It appears to be Legolas.”

“That means we know where two of our people are, then. I wonder if they know where anyone else is.”

“We don’t know yet if the lads have any idea of who they are,” Gloin added. “They are doing an interview on the television right now, but we’re getting almost as many new questions as we’re getting answers.”

“So you have been able to confirm that the singer from the other night is indeed Kili, then?”

Thorin nodded. “There was no denying it when we saw him and Legolas on this news type program. Though, why they are on there we have no idea. It doesn’t seem like a very professional news program.”

“It’s probably a paid program, then,” Bilbo said calmly. “They’re on local access channels and aren’t really recognized as real journalism. However, they seem to be invaluable for getting names and faces of new performers into the public eye. Performers have to start somewhere to get their faces and names out there.”

“It’s back,” Radagast called, causing everyone to focus on the television again.

Like everyone else, Fili returned his focus to the television screen even while his mind was racing with all of his questions and hopes.

“So tell us, boys,” Hanna’s perky voice started up when the cameras came back on Corvid and Raven. “After this week in our lovely Los Angeles, where are you heading to next?”

“We have an appointment next Wednesday in New York City,” Corvid said easily. “Our manager says that there is a group there that is going on a tour and they’re looking for an opening act that can keep up with them.”

Fili started and then looked over at Radagast. “Rads?”

“Yes?”

“On that list of bands auditioning for us next week…”

“If someone will hand me my laptop, I can definitely look at the information from all of the groups that replied about being interested in an audition.”

“Check and see if _Chasing Ravens_ is on that list?”

It seemed to hit everyone else what Corvid had just said on the television and they all looked from Radagast to Fili.

“Do you think they’re seriously coming to audition for _us_?” Gloin asked as Tauriel hummed under her breath.

“I don’t know, but it does seem an interesting coincidence that they will be here next week.”

“It could be for another group,” Balin said carefully.

“True, but it doesn’t hurt to look. And if it’s not us that they are coming here to audition for, then we at least know where they will be for a few days and we can try to arrange a meeting or something with them or their band.”

Thorin nodded. “That makes a lot of sense. Them being in our city gives us a chance to see if they remember anything.”

“That’s awesome,” Hanna was saying on the screen. “Your first tour!”

Fili was surprised to see Raven shaking his head. “We don’t know that.”

“How can they not give you the job? Especially now that you’ve been on TV twice?”

Raven’s mouth formed into a flat line. “It doesn’t matter if we’ve been on TV or not. There’s the chance that our sound, or our personalities, or our presence won’t mesh with what they have. The music matters, yeah, but if they don’t like us or don’t have room for us, we’re not going to push our way into their thing. That’s not who we are.”

“Musicians have to have respect for each other, Hanna,” Corvid said shaking his head. “Just because we’ve been invited to audition for them doesn’t mean that we have the right to assume we are guaranteed a place. It’s their gig and they are merely doing us a courtesy of hearing us out. If they like us, then great. If they don’t, then that’s okay, too.”

“I’m not sure your group is going to make as much money as other big groups with that kind of attitude and belief, Corvid, and I would love to see you make it big.”

Raven shrugged, clearly uncomfortable with Hanna’s comments. “We’re not in it for the money. It’s about the music and if a group we audition for doesn’t like us, it doesn’t give us the right to crap all over them. Believe it or not, most musicians have a lot more respect for each other than many journalists have ever given them credit for.”

“They work really well in tandem when they’re schooling someone for their shit,” Bofur mused. “They have no problems telling her how things are in their eyes, do they?”

“It’s Kili and Legolas,” Tauriel laughed. “I don’t recall either of them holding their words close to them when they felt strongly about something.”

On the screen, Hanna seemed to have become uncomfortable with the looks and the tones of the twins’ voices, so she asked another question.

“If the audition doesn’t pan out, what’s the next move for you, then?”

“We’ll probably return to Canada for a while,” Corvid commented as Raven nodded. “Work in the studio at home for a bit and spend some time in our home providence.”

“Maybe tour through the country to some of the places we’ve played before. We’ve been asked many times to come back and we enjoy playing the smaller venues, too.” Raven agreed. “It’s always nice to return home and give ourselves a chance to recharge and decide on the next plan we want to tackle.”

“So… you guys would give up after one failed audition and retreat back home?”

“How is any audition a failure?” Corvid demanded. “Any audition we go to gets more people to see us and hear our sound. Just because we don’t get a gig, it doesn’t mean we’ve failed at anything.”

“He is pissed off,” Thorin breathed as he watched Corvid/Legolas snap at the reporter.

“If you look at Kili, you can probably guess why,” Balin said quietly.

Fili looked at Kili on the screen and something in his chest caught. To anyone that hadn’t known him and grown up with him at one time, he looked just fine. However, Fili could see things that the reporter and most of the people watching would never realize. His One was now sitting stiffly in the chair and his jaw was tense as his hand balled into a fist against his thigh. The contact lenses hid Kili’s real eyes and all of the things that usually shone there, but from the way his body was, Fili could guess that there would be uncertainty shining in his eyes right about now.

“The confidence he’s been showing this whole time is a show, just another act,” Fili said softly. “Legolas is pissed because he knows how words like that can shake his brother’s belief in himself.” He ran a hand over his face. “That is one thing that I wish Kili wouldn’t have been saddled with in this life, as well.”

“He certainly seemed to be full of confidence every time I spoke with him.” Tauriel said with confusion coloring her voice as she looked at the others.

“He was very good at hiding his discomfort around people who didn’t know him well,” Thorin sighed. “But we’d known him for all of his seventy-eight years so we knew when he wasn’t sure of himself.”


	10. Fili

“And returning to the place that supported us and gave us everything is not a retreat from anything,” Raven finally spoke up. “We’ll go home and work on new material and decide what the next step in our lives will be. Home is always the right place for us to go -- even if we suddenly became a famous sensation across the world and could go anywhere, we’d always make time for home.”

“Their PR team should be shot for letting them go on this show and have to deal with this woman,” Bombur grumbled. “Dori would never have let us near this woman.”

“Maybe their PR team didn’t know that it would go this way or their PR lead is young. This could be their first big interview,” Dori said peacefully. “Being young and new to things like this shouldn’t automatically mean that they should be vilified or fired. They now know to dig further in the history and background of who will be interviewing them.”

“That would have been the first thing you did when someone wanted us on their show,” Balin said with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m older and was used to always being suspicious of everyone outside of my brothers and the Company,” Dori pointed out. “Not everyone has our knowledge and experiences.”

Back in the newsroom, Hanna seemed to realize that she was losing the good graces of the twin performers sitting in her chairs. She made a show of looking down at the notes in her lap and then smiled at Corvid and Raven again. This time, they did not quickly smile back.

“It’s just about time for your performance,” she said too brightly. “And then we’ll take a few phone calls from fans.” Raven looked uncomfortable about that but he nodded. “So what instruments are the two of you playing for us tonight when you sing?”

“Violin and guitar,” Corvid answered in an even tone.

“If it was me, I would be leaving and dragging Kili out of there.” Bilbo said, shaking his head. “It’s obvious that he no longer wants to be there.”

“Showmanship,” Fili murmured, not taking his eyes off the television as the twins got to their feet and followed Hanna over to what looked like a small performance area. “They’re professionals and so will let her push them just over the line of too far before they react and walk out.”

In the performance area, they saw genuine smiles grace the faces of the twins again as they picked up the cases their instruments were in. They opened them side by side and with reverent care, they lifted them from their cases and examined them closely. Once they were satisfied with the conditions of their instruments, they lifted them and began to play.

The violin sung softly underneath Raven’s hands as he drew the bow across the strings. He started to sway gently from side to side as he gave the appearance that he was getting lost in the playing. Next to him, Corvid was running his fingers along his guitar as the two instruments started to work together.

Fili was not the only one that leaned forward when they recognized the tune of what they were playing. There had been many covers and remakes of this song through the years, but Fili was positive he had never heard anything like what his brother and Legolas were turning it into.

Raven turned gently, facing the microphone as he lowered his violin from his shoulder. “ _Hello darkness my old friend. I’ve come to talk to you again. Because a vision softly creeping... left its seeds while I was sleeping. And the vision that was planted in my brain... still remains … with the sound of silence._ ”

Fili’s throat was dry as he tried to make sense of all of the things in his brain. However, the change from Kili’s speaking voice to this husky tone Raven was singing in was causing him to forget about everything but paying attention to the performance.

“ _In restless dreams I walked alone, narrow streets of cobblestone. ‘Neath the halo of a street lamp, I turned my collar to the cold and damp…_ ”

Raven gracefully lifted his violin into place and began playing again as his brother took up the song.

“ _When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light … that stabbed the night, and touched the sound of silence…_ ”

Legolas ran his fingers up the neck of his instrument and the guitar danced seamlessly with the music that Kili was pulling from his violin. The former elf prince’s singing voice seemed to be a perfect match to the singing voice of their former dwarf prince. Fili might have been jealous if it wasn’t such a beautiful creation between the two of them. 

It was his voice that continued the song as Kili’s violin started increasing in a mournful tempo to accompany him.

“ _And in the naked light I saw, ten thousand people or maybe more. People talking without speaking… people hearing without listening…_ ”

The violin’s notes became softer, and then Raven’s voice melded with his brother’s once more.

“ _People writing songs that voices never share… And no one dare disturb the sound of silence…_ ”

Corvid’s voice faded to a soft background as Raven’s voice got stronger.

“ _Fools said I, you do not know... silence like a cancer grows. Hear my words that I might teach you. Take my arms that I might reach you…_ ”

Corvid’s voice had begun weaving up through the music until he was able to once more join in with Raven’s. “ _But my words like silent raindrops fell and echoed in the wells ... of silence…_ ”

Corvid’s voice became stronger as Raven slowly eased his voice down to the background until it was only Corvid’s voice that was heard.

“ _And the people bowed and prayed ... to the neon God they made. And the sign flashed out its warning and the words that it was forming. And the sign said ‘The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls … and in tenement halls…_ ”

As Corvid sang, Raven’s violin flipped up to its position and there was no way Fili would have been able to look away from the performance even if his life had depended on it. He had no words to describe the magic he was seeing with his One and that violin. It was like the man and the instrument was the same creation and when one breathed, so did the other one. He started out swaying but then he was dancing around, his coat and his hair moving around as he moved like a hurricane. With the instrument in his hand, Raven… Kili… was a force of nature. There was no other term that he could think of to describe what he was seeing -- and then he wondered just how much more intense it would be to see him perform in person.

He was dimly aware of Legolas playing -- and that was another thing to think about -- as he took over the song while Kili continued to draw poetry from the violin. He had so many questions that he wanted to ask Kili once he finally saw him and he wasn’t sure where he would even start.

He watched as Kili lowered the violin and sang the final line of the song while Legolas lowered his voice back to the underlying vocals.

“ _And whispered in the sound of silence…_ ”

The lights faded as the news program went to another commercial break.


	11. Kili

During the commercial breaks, Kili and Legolas continued to hold a conversation in Sindarin, completely ignoring the curious and confused looks from Miss Hanna Valentine.

_"How pissed do you think the others will be if we walk out after the performance?"_ Kili asked his brother.

_"With the things that have been happening in this farce of an interview, I doubt they'll be upset with us at all."_ Legolas commented, letting himself slouch down a little in the chair.

_"There was nothing said about taking calls and answering questions from people calling in."_

_"No there most certainly wasn't."_ Legolas looked angry about that. _"It was only supposed to be an interview, us performing and giving them information how to find more of our music."_ He looked at his twin. _"You know that if you're uncomfortable with this we can walk our right now, no questions asked."_

Kili sighed softly. Everything in him was telling him that he needed to get as far away from this lady and this studio and not look back. However, there was also the fact that he needed to try and be stronger than how he was feeling right now.

_"I don't want to let the group down. Us performing here for whomever might be watching this joke of a show helps get us exposure and might help us find the rest."_

Legolas made a sound of annoyance. _"You know they won't care or be upset with you if we leave, Kee. We didn’t agree to some of these things she’s been pulling.”_

_”I don’t want my discomfort to be the reason we end up getting some screwed up reputation of being difficult to work with.”_

_”And I know a certain dancer, his brother, and their partners who would have angry words over someone accusing you of being difficult to work with,”_ his twin scoffed. _”Anyone from the show would step up with examples of how that is the opposite of true.”_

_”Let’s just get through the performance and the rest of this farce,”_ Kili sighed. _”Afterward, we’ll all sit down and come up with a plan to prevent ourselves from ever getting tangled up with fake people like this again.”_

Legolas would have commented, but that was when Hanna signalled that the commercials were ending.

“So tell us, boys,” Hanna’s perky voice started up when the cameras came back to focus on the two of them. “After this week in our lovely Los Angeles, where are you heading to next?”

“We have an appointment next Wednesday in New York City,” Legolas said easily. “Our manager says that there is a group there that is going on a tour and they’re looking for an opening act that can keep up with them.”

“That’s awesome,” Hanna said with more excitement than the twins thought was realistic. “Your first tour!”

Kili sighed even as he started shaking his head. “We don’t know that.”

“How can they not give you the job? Especially now that you’ve been on TV twice?”

Kili’s mouth formed into a flat line. “It doesn’t matter if we’ve been on TV or not. There’s the chance that our sound, or our personalities, or our presence won’t mesh with what they have. The music matters, yeah, but if they don’t like us or don’t have room for us, we’re not going to push our way into their thing. That’s not who we are.”

“Musicians have to have respect for each other, Hanna,” Legolas agreed, shaking his head at her as well. “Just because we’ve been invited to audition for them doesn’t mean that we have the right to assume we are guaranteed a place. It’s their gig and they are merely doing us a courtesy of hearing us out. If they like us, then great. If they don’t, then that’s okay, too.”

“I’m not sure your group is going to make as much money as other big groups with that kind of attitude and belief, Corvid, and I would love to see you make it big.”

Kili shrugged, becoming even more uncomfortable with Hanna’s comments. “We’re not in it for the money. It’s about the music and if a group we audition for doesn’t like us, it doesn’t give us the right to crap all over them. Believe it or not, most musicians have a lot more respect for each other than many journalists have ever given them credit for.”

Hanna finally seemed to pick up on their displeasure and seemed to have become uncomfortable with the looks and the tones of the twins’ voices, so she asked another question.

“If the audition doesn’t pan out, what’s the next move for you, then?”

“We’ll probably return to Canada for a while,” Legolas commented as Kili nodded in agreement. “Work in the studio at home for a bit and spend some time in our home providence.”

“Maybe tour through the country to some of the places we’ve played before. We’ve been asked many times to come back and we enjoy playing the smaller venues, too.” Kili added. “It’s always nice to return home and give ourselves a chance to recharge and decide on the next plan we want to tackle.”

“So… you guys would give up after one failed audition and retreat back home?”

Kili felt all of his confidence in what they were doing struggling against the old worries that Hanna was awakening in him again. What if he wasn’t good enough to help the group achieve the success and fame that they had worked towards for so long? What if, because of _him_ , they never found the rest of their family?

He clenched his hand into a fist next to his thigh, pushing into the muscle of his leg in an attempt to get his nerves under control as he listened to his brother’s voice. Unbeknownst to Hanna, she had poked at something that was always guaranteed to piss off his twin.

“How is any audition a failure?” Legolas demanded. “Any audition we go to gets more people to see us and hear our sound. Just because we don’t get a gig, it doesn’t mean we’ve failed at anything.”

“And returning to the place that supported us and gave us everything is not a retreat from anything,” Kili finally spoke up. “We’ll go home and work on new material and decide what the next step in our lives will be. Home is always the right place for us to go -- even if we suddenly became a famous sensation across the world and could go anywhere, we’d always make time for home.”

Hanna seemed to realize that she was losing the good graces of the twin performers sitting in her chairs. She made a show of looking down at the notes in her lap and then smiled at Kili and Legolas again. This time, they did not quickly smile back.

“It’s just about time for your performance,” she said too brightly. “And then we’ll take a few phone calls from fans.” Kili was still uncomfortable about that but he nodded. “So what instruments are the two of you playing for us tonight when you sing?”

“Violin and guitar,” Legolas answered in an even tone.

“Why don’t we let you guys get to it, then,” Hanna chirped. “After all, that’s the main reason you’re here, right?”

The twins unfolded from their chairs and followed Hanna to the performance area. She disappeared off to the side and genuine smiles graced their faces again as they picked up the cases their instruments were in. They opened them side by side and with reverent care, they lifted them from their cases and examined them closely. Once they were satisfied with the conditions of their instruments, they lifted them and began to play.

The violin sung softly underneath Kili’s hands as he drew the bow across the strings. He started to sway gently from side to side as he gave the appearance that he was getting lost in the playing. This was his element. When he had an instrument in hand he felt most connected to so much in the world. Next to him, Legolas was running his fingers along his guitar as the two instruments started to work together.

There were indrawn breaths and soft sighs throughout the studio as people began to recognize the song that the musicians were playing. Inwardly, Kili grinned. He had known that their version of this song would cause deep reactions.

He turned gently, facing the microphone as he lowered his violin from his shoulder. “ _Hello darkness my old friend. I’ve come to talk to you again. Because a vision softly creeping... left its seeds while I was sleeping. And the vision that was planted in my brain... still remains … with the sound of silence._ ”

He heard Legolas’ guitar notes swirling up to blend with his voice and allowed himself to melt into the song.

“ _In restless dreams I walked alone..., narrow streets of cobblestone. ‘Neath the halo of a street lamp..., I turned my collar to the cold and damp…_ ”

Kili gracefully lifted his violin into place and began playing again as his brother took up the song.

“ _When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light … that stabbed the night, and touched the sound of silence…_ ”

Legolas ran his fingers up the neck of his instrument and the guitar danced seamlessly with the music that Kili was pulling from his violin. 

It was his voice that continued the song as Kili’s violin started increasing in a mournful tempo to accompany him.

“ _And in the naked light I saw, ten thousand people or maybe more. People talking without speaking… people hearing without listening…_ ”

The violin’s notes became softer, and then Kili’s voice melded with his brother’s once more.

“ _People writing songs that voices never share… And no one dare disturb the sound of silence…_ ”

Legolas’s voice faded to a soft background as Kili’s voice got stronger.

“ _Fools said I, you do not know... silence like a cancer grows. Hear my words that I might teach you... Take my arms that I might reach you…_ ”

Legolas’s voice had begun weaving up through the music until he was able to once more join in with Kili’s. “ _But my words like silent raindrops fell and echoed in the wells ... of silence…_ ”

Legolas’s voice became stronger as Kili slowly eased his voice down to the background until it was only Legolas’s voice that was heard.

“ _And the people bowed and prayed ... to the neon God they made. And the sign flashed out its warning and the words that it was forming. And the sign said ‘The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls … and in tenement halls…_ ”

As Legolas sang, Kili’s violin flipped up to its position and there was no way anyone would have been able to look away from the performance even if their lives had depended on it. There were no words to describe the magic he was creating with his violin. To anyone watching, it would seem like the man and the instrument were the same creation and when one breathed, so did the other one. He started out swaying but then he was dancing around, his coat and his hair moving around as he moved like something in a dream. With the instrument in his hand, Kili was a force of nature. This was what he lived for; he and his instrument becoming one creation as he performed for the audience.

Kili lowered the violin and sang the final line of the song while Legolas lowered his voice back to the underlying vocals.

“ _And whispered in the sound of silence…_ ”

The lights faded in the studio and then went black as the performance ended and another commercial break was signalled.


	12. Kili

The break didn’t last as long this time, it seemed, so when Hanna told them the cameras were coming back to them, Kili and Legolas were sitting at a table with a speaker phone in front of them. Kili was still feeling anxious about this, but he was doing his best to hide it because he knew how close to blowing up his brother was about everything that had happened here tonight.

This whole experience had been nothing like that they had been told and in fact, except for the performing, it had been a crap shoot as far as he was concerned. He knew that Legolas was feeling the same way. 

They would both be quite happy when this evening was done and they never had to hear Hanna Valentine’s voice again.

“Welcome back and if you’re just joining us, we’ve been chatting with Corvid and Raven Chase, the twin brothers who have formed the newest music sensation, _Chasing Ravens_.” Hanna’s voice was really grating on the both of them and Kili was wishing they had just walked out like Legolas had wanted to do earlier. “We’ve almost reached the end of our time with them, but they’ve graciously allowed fans to call into our phone lines and ask a few final questions. Caller One, you’re on the air…”

The first few calls were pretty low key and when they heard how excited the fans seemed to be to talk to them, Kili begin to relax as he and Legolas took turns answering their fans. There was nothing happening that needed their complete attention and he was wondering why he had even been so worried about this part of the night.

The questions were light-hearted and curious -- mostly about where they got their ideas and how they were doing trying to get their music out to people. One woman even gave them her studio’s contact information as she wanted her company to do a photo shoot of them and the rest of the band and help them put together some promotional materials.

They were both feeling pretty excited about that and had grins as they gave the woman details about contacting their public relations person and their manager. Maybe it had been worth it to stay for the phone interviews after all.

“Here’s our next caller, Gerald. Gerald, you’re now on the line with Corvid and Raven.”

“Hello, Wings.”

Kili barely registered the name, but the voice caused him to throw himself back from the table in an effort to get away and felt the chair flip over with him in it. It wouldn’t have been so bad except that he felt his head slam hard into the floor when the chair landed.

It felt like things were suddenly far away, but he was able to make out the sound of Legolas yelling at Hanna and then he felt air move around him and knew that his brother was trying to help him get up. However, he just could not get his body to unclench from the panic and the terror that was overwhelming him at the moment.

He heard a thread of panic in Legolas’s voice, but he couldn’t respond to his brother to reassure him. In fact, it was getting harder to keep his eyes open and finally he just let them close and quit fighting to hang onto consciousness.

When Legolas saw Kili’s eyes fall shut and his brother go limp, he jumped to his feet.

“Nori! Gareth, we need you in here right the hell now!”

He felt a little bit of relief when Gareth and Nori entered and they had Bifur with them. They crouched down to pick up Kili and when they did that, he stalked back over to the table. He turned to Gareth when their manager approached Hanna and he couldn’t keep the rage and panic out of his voice.

“She damn well tricked us! We weren’t supposed to be blindsided like that and it was that bastard on the phone --” He knew he was shaking from rage, but he couldn’t control it. Seeing his brother laying lifeless on the floor had triggered far too many memories and composure was the last thing he was capable of right now.

His manager held up a hand in his direction, a sure signal that he had it under control and everything would be all right. However, he was having a hard time believing that right now when he had just watched his twin brother collapse in front of him. He shook his head and pivoted. 

“To hell with this,” he muttered and followed the men carrying his brother out of the studio.

After Legolas left, Gareth turned and gave a decidedly unfriendly glare to Hanna and to the man in the business suit that joined their group.

“Miss Valentine, you and yours will be hearing from our lawyers immediately. Not only did you go outside the boundaries of the contracted agreement, you have put the safety of Corvid and Raven Chase into question -- something that I know that you and your manager solemnly promised not to do in any way when the contract was signed for them to appear on your little show.” He cleared his throat. “I would not be surprised if the networks no longer wanted to take the risk of hosting your show.”

Hanna gasped and then glared, putting her hands on her hips like a toddler. “You can’t do that!”

Gareth tilted his head. “Can’t I? You endangered the health and safety of my clients by going outside the boundaries of the agreement. I know what the agreement was because I was here when their public relations manager went over the requirements and restrictions with you.”

“How was I supposed to know that a simple phone call was going to cause Raven to freak out like that?”

“Hanna --” the man in the business suit warned her.

“I mean, really. If they are that volatile and fragile then they have no business being in public at all. It’s not my fault that they couldn’t handle my interview.”

The man in the business suit groaned and ran a hand over his face. This was going to end badly and there was only so much that he could do. He knew the power of the public -- and managers and lawyers. He was not a manager or owner of a large network. His show was only a small all-access show on public broadcast television to help struggling performers.

He couldn’t allow this incident to destroy everything he and his people had worked for.

“Hanna, you’re fired,” he finally said. “Clear out your locker within the next half an hour and you’ll be escorted from the studio.” He turned to Gareth. “I sincerely apologize for all of this and if there is anything that I can do to help your clients and make up for this sour experience, please let me know. This should not have happened and I am truly sorry.”

Hanna screeched. “You can’t fire me! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Gareth glared. “He can and he just did. I’m sure his lawyers will back him up when they go over the signed contract and then review the tapes of this interview.” He smiled at her but there was nothing at all friendly in the smile. “If Raven has any lingering issues from what has happened here tonight, know very well that I can make sure that no news or musical agency ever hires you again.”

He let that threat -- no, that _promise_ \-- hang heavily in the air for a moment before nodding at the man in the business suit and exiting the studio to find out how the boys were.

Only someone that knew him very well would have been able to detect the concern and the cold rage that was running through him at what had just transpired in this place.

“We should have paid attention to his concerns and his worry,” Gareth said under his breath. “I never should have allowed him to dismiss his anxiety and come here.”


	13. Fili

“ _And whispered in the sound of silence…_ ”

The lights faded as the news program went to another commercial break.

“There are entirely too many damn commercials on this show,” Tauriel muttered in annoyance as she collapsed back in her chair.

Fili tilted his head as he looked at the one who had been born as his sister in this life. “That’s not what has you all tense, Tori.”

She sighed, shaking her head. “How the hell do you know me so damn well?”

“Probably because I’ve spent twenty-six years with you?” He responded in a dry tone. “Tell me, big sis. What’s got you so bothered?”

“What if they don’t remember us? What if even with all of this information and knowledge they have… they won’t know us?”

“They will all come into their own,” Radagast assured them. “Not many of you were born with an immediate knowledge of who you were before. It took time. The Princes may not know who they are right now, but they will. Either with more time or by setting eyes on their other halves.”

“Which begs the question of how do we manage to arrange a meeting with them?” Bilbo was perched on the arm of Thorin’s chair. “I mean, it’s not like the two shows they’ve been on are going to give us their contact information.”

“They probably have a website where interested bands or shows can contact their manager about auditions or appearances,” Dori said quietly. “Just like the one I set up for you lot.”

Balin nodded. “That makes the most sense.”

“So, we wait and see if we’re the group they have the audition with next week and if we’re not, we have Dori send their manager a message that we’re looking for an opening act on our tour.” Fili bit his lip, hesitating. “I mean if that’s all right with the rest of you and we don’t get attached to any of the other auditioning acts?”

“Like we’re going to settle for anyone but Kili’s group now that we know for a fact he’s here,” Bofur said. “Plus, we also now know that his group can fucking perform their hearts out.”

The other members of the group nodded and Fili let out a relieved breath. He was glad that they wanted to have Kili and Legolas with them as much as he did, but he would have gone with the majority decision about the performers. They did have a tour to handle and that was just as important -- to most -- as getting the other half of his soul in the same room with him.

When the news show -- for lack of a better term -- came back on, Kili and Legolas were sitting in the chairs they had originally been in. Neither one of them looked very relaxed, but they were disguising that tension with light smiles on their faces.

“Welcome back and if you’re just joining us, we’ve been chatting with Corvid and Raven Chase, the twin brothers who have formed the newest music sensation, _Chasing Ravens_.” Hanna’s voice was really beginning to grate on Fili’s nerves. “We’ve almost reached the end of our time with them, but they’ve graciously allowed fans to call into our phone lines and ask a few final questions. Caller One, you’re on the air…”

Fili listened to the first few excited fans as they asked pretty low key questions and he saw Kili begin to relax as he and Legolas took turns answering their fans. There was nothing happening that needed their complete attention and Fili was able to see glimpses of the happy, carefree dwarf that he had known so long ago.

Which was why when everything suddenly changed, he was watching and getting very concerned over something he couldn’t figure out.

“Here’s our next caller, Gerald. Gerald, you’re now on the line with Corvid and Raven.”

“Hello, Wings.”

There was nothing threatening in the voice as far as Fili could hear, but it was obvious that he and the rest of his group had missed something incredibly vital.

At the sound of the voice -- or was it the nickname? -- Kili’s face had gone white and he had thrown himself against the back of his chair with such force that it flipped over. Legolas was on his feet, yelling at Hanna and then yelling at the door. When he was done yelling, he was fighting to get his brother untangled from the chair and trying to get Kili to his feet.

But Kili wasn’t moving.

“Nori! Gareth, we need you in here right the hell now!”

Dori started when he heard the name of his brother and then there was nothing but chaos on the screen in front of them.

There was a lot of yelling, but Fili was barely registering what was being said as he stayed focused on Kili and the fact that nothing Legolas was doing was getting him to move from where he had landed on the floor.

_What the hell was going on? What was wrong with Kili?_

Three new men suddenly arrived in the studio. Two of them were crouching down next to Kili with Legolas, but the taller man dressed completely in dark gray was facing off with Hanna and someone official looking who had joined the fray.

“Oh look!” Radagast said happily. “It’s Gandalf!”

Fili felt something in him break when he saw the two men lifting Kili from the floor and into their arms to carry him out of the studio. Kili’s face was a horrible shade of white and his eyes were closed. Legolas got to his feet and was yelling.

“She damn well tricked us! We weren’t supposed to be blindsided like that and it was that bastard on the phone --”

The one called Gareth -- Gandalf if Radagast was correct -- held up a hand at Legolas. The former elf prince stopped his yelling, but he was shaking from his emotions.

“To hell with this,” he muttered and followed the men carrying his brother out of the studio.

The last thing they saw was Gareth telling Hanna and her official that they would be hearing from their lawyers and then the picture and sound being broadcast from the studio was cut.

There was dead silence in the loft for at least a minute or two before Gloin cleared his throat and voiced the question that they were all thinking.

“What in the fiery fuck just happened?”

Fili really wanted the answer to that question as well. It had been bad enough to see his reaction to the phone call, but it was even worse when he hadn’t responded after his collapse. Everything within him was howling to be there for Kili. His One obviously needed him and he had no idea what was even going on.


	14. Fili

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some unhappy answers... and even more questions

Thorn sighed as he watched his nephew. He didn’t ask what was going through his mind because all of them gathered there could hazard a guess. Most of their guesses would probably be spot on. In their previous lives in Middle Earth, his sister-sons had been incredibly devoted to each other. Their bond with each other always came first before anything else – even before their uncle and king.

It was something that he could never really fault them for. He only wished that their devotion to each other had been enough to spare them the pain of how it all ended for their line.

He pulled his mind back into the present and focused his attention on Bofur.

“Bofur, what did you find?”

Bofur cleared his throat as he opened his laptop again. “Fili, my lad, you probably don’t want to be hearing all of this.”

“That is my brother and my One, Bofur. I would know what has happened to him so I know what kind of help he may need from me.”

Bofur sighed and nodded. He had thought that Fili would give him that answer. As he took a steadying breath, Bombur moved to sit next to him.

“The quick and the dirty is that when he was sixteen – almost seventeen – Raven Chase was in a serious car accident.”

“And the not so quick version?” Balin asked.

“The accident was no accident as his uncle, Avery Chase, kidnapped him and tried to kill him.” He swallowed and his brother reached out to squeeze his shoulder. “The car that he was in went off of the road into a canyon where it hit a tree and burst into flames.” Bofur took a shuddering breath before he could continue. “The lad was found unconscious and not responsive at the scene. He had also been tied up and locked in the trunk. By the time he was found, those working at the scene didn’t know if he was going to make it. The trunk had been caved in at spots and he was lucky he didn’t suffer from more burns as the fire pretty much gutted the vehicle.” Bofur looked back at his screen, but there was a sheen of tears in his eyes. “Avery Chase was found at the scene, watching the car burn and seemingly managing to enjoy a cigarette as he did so.”

Fili wasn’t the only one in the room to react badly to all of this information. Even as he felt trembling start to move through his body, Tauriel reached out her own shaking hand and grasped his.

“His own kin tried to kill him?” Bilbo’s voice was full of shock and pain for what Kili had gone through. “What kind of monster would do that their young child?”

Thorin pulled Bilbo close in an attempt to comfort him even though he wasn’t feeling very steady himself. He wanted to weep at the knowledge of what had been done to his youngest nephew, but for now, for his family, he would do his best to look strong.

“Avery was arrested at the scene without incident and Raven was resuscitated by medics when they arrived. Later, it was determined that Bradley Chase, Avery’s son was also involved in the kidnapping and murder attempt of the young heir to _Chase International_ ,” Bombur picked up on the reading of the article. “He was not on the scene but was arrested at his home where he was found injured due to an attempt to detain or harm the older Chase heir, Corvid Chase. Corvid Chase was liberated with injuries consistent with a kidnapping attempt. The older Chase had managed to put up enough of a fight that Bradley was not able to bind him and dispose of him as his father attempted to do with his brother.”

“At the hospital, young Raven was taken into surgery immediately. Surgeons say that he flatlined three times before slipping into a coma. Corvid was treated for a broken shoulder, lacerations, a concussion and internal injuries.”

Everyone took a moment to breathe so that they could calm themselves in order to continue with their reading. None of them were happy about what the two former princes had been through.

“What happened after that?” Dori finally asked after a few minutes of silence.

Bofur took a steadying breath and continued to read. “Corvid was released from the hospital after a week and joined his mother in her vigil at her youngest son’s side. Raven underwent surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain and spine. For a few days, doctors weren’t confident that Raven was even going to survive, but the longer he clung to life the better his chances became. Even so, Raven ended up going into a coma due to the severity of his injuries. While doctors weren’t confident that he would survive for very long after he went into his coma, Raven continued to surprise them by maintaining a tenuous hold on his existence. Each time something failed on him, the young man always managed to come back. Even after flatlining more than once, Raven was always able to be revived. The final time he appeared to die, doctors were convinced that it was the end for him. To their surprise, when they brought his family in to say their goodbyes, he opened his eyes. There had been no sign that he was alive or even aware of his surroundings.”

Fili swallowed and then swallowed again. “Does that report say how many times Kili _died_ during that six months?”

Bofur shook his head. “No, but I’m sure that I could dig up that information if you really want to know.”

“You didn’t find all of this information by doing a generic Google search, Bofur,” Thorin murmured, looking at his friend as calmly as he could while he processed the horror of what Kili had been forced to go through in this life. “What made you do one of your in-depth searches?”

Bofur sighed, fidgeting a little bit beneath Thorin’s gaze. “Most of the news reports were short on details and big on speculation and propaganda. All the regular reports spoke about the damages to Raven and how he would never recover and have a normal life. They were all full of people gossiping and gave very few honest details.”

“The report you were reading… where did it come from?”

Bofur shifted in his seat. “Notes from a file that pertains to an investigation against Avery and Bradley Chase.”

“You hacked the police?!”

Bofur shook his head. “No, not the police. A private investigator out of Oregon that was hired by Dis.”

Thorin and Fili stiffened.

“What do you mean, hired by Dis?”

“Desiree Chase, the mother of Corvid and Raven Chase is our Dis.” He turned the laptop around to show the rest of the gathered Company. The picture on the screen was definitely Dis without the beard they all recalled from their former shared life.

Fili sat back, running a hand through his hair. “Mom. At least Kili and Legolas have had her through all of that. Corvid’s comment about nobody being able to get past their mom fits. She’d have become violently protective after something like that – especially if she remembers before and what happened to us.”

“The boys said they were from Canada, so why would Dis hire an investigator here and not at home?” Gloin asked in confusion. “Seems to me that it would be easier to hire someone closer to home.”

“For a time after Avery and Bradley made bail, they disappeared. Dis had the suspicion that they had slipped across the border into this country. There was also a list of suggested aliases that they might use in the file.”

Balin looked at Bofur silently for a moment and then sighed. “Were one set of aliases familiar to us all?”

Bofur nodded. “Nicknames of Azog and Bolg.”


	15. Kili

Outside the station, Gareth found Kili stretched out in the back seat of their vehicle with his head in his brother’s lap. His eyes were still closed and his face was pale. Gareth leaned against the outside of the vehicle, watching others of their group taking care of a few things before they all loaded into the SUV. Once Nori started it up, Gareth turned to look back at Legolas.

“Has he responded?” Legolas shook his head and Gareth sighed. “I know it doesn’t make up for this, but Ms. Valentine was fired and I am certain I can make sure that she never works in the industry again.”

“Please do,” Legolas said quietly. “I tried to get him to leave but he was worried we would get a reputation of being difficult to work with. He said he didn’t want to risk letting the group down that way.”

Bifur snorted. “The last thing he would ever be accused of is being difficult to work with.”

Gareth looked at Bifur. “Did you phone Dwalin and Oin so they knew what to expect when we arrive at the hotel?”

“We called Gimli,” Nori said. “He said he’d let them know and said that someone should contact Dis before she hears or sees stupid rumors about it.”

“Can you do something to shield us so we can get him up to the rooms?” Legolas asked. “We’re not letting anyone see him being carried so that more rumors can fly.”

“Of course,” Gareth responded, then turned more in the front seat so that he could face Legolas more clearly. “Are you certain it was him? I didn’t hear the call.”

Legolas’ lips flattened into a thin line and he nodded, his eyes full of fire. “It was him. There was no mistaking his voice.”

“Son of a fucking bitch,” Nori cursed, hitting the steering wheel.

“How in the fuck did he even know to call in?” Bifur demanded.

“An even more important question,” Gareth posed quietly. “Isn’t he supposed to be in prison with no possibility of release? And wasn’t part of the requirements of his incarceration that his contact with the outside was strictly limited? Most prisons I know of do not allow the inmates to call in to television shows.”

Legolas stiffened, his blue eyes wide with alarm. The idea that the surviving enemy that tried to kill them might no longer be in prison caused his anxiety to rise. Not so much for him since he had managed to fight him off, but for his brother.

His twin who had almost died after the attacks by their uncle and cousin.

“If he’s no longer locked up and has found out where Raven and I are, we need to get out of this area and possibly out of the state.”

Nori drew in a breath to hear the former elf prince call Kili the name he had been born with. It was that tell that let them know how panicked and unsettled he was by the news. He and Kili only seemed to use the names they were born with in the company of strangers, performing, or when they were very upset about something. That had been a thing since their memories of their life before had come crashing fully into their minds after the attempt on their lives.

“We’ll get Dwalin and Ori to set up extra security protocols,” Bifur said firmly. “When the kid wakes up and is steady again, we’ll head to New York City early -- possibly by way of Canada since that will make more sense security wise and will make the birds feel safer until we have California in the rearview.”

“We should let Val and Maks know something bad happened since we were supposed to get together with them again before we left town.” Nori said. “The four have been friends for long enough that there is no telling what those two might do or say if Corvid and Raven disappear without a word.”

“I’m less concerned about their thoughts and actions than I am about making sure the twins feel safe and secure,” Gareth said not unkindly. “We can contact them after we are away so that we know that things are safe and so we can assure them that everything is alright with the boys.”

“I’m not sure the birds will appreciate their friends being left completely in the dark about their disappearing act,” Nori responded. “They seem to trust them with a fair bit of knowledge.”

“We’ll come up with something and if Corvid and Raven want to fill them in when we are far from here, then that is their choice.” He looked at Nori. “Everyone outside of us should remain in the dark until we have them safely away where they feel they can breathe again and leave the looking over shoulders to those of us that are paid to do that kind of thing.”

Nori nodded, deciding that he would have to be satisfied with that. After all, even after who knows how many hundreds or thousands of years had passed, you do not argue with powerful wizards when they say something needed to happen. He just needed to look in his rearview mirror at the unconscious Kili and the pale Legolas to agree that their manager’s plans were probably the best things to do in this case.

“Gandalf,” he murmured quietly, not wanting the boys to hear him as he looked at Gareth while he turned into the hotel parking garage. “What are we going to do if that bastard really is out of prison and stalking them?”

“My dear Nori, why we neutralize him and remove the threat, of course.” Gandalf responded calmly.

 

He was aware of a rocking sensation when he started to open his eyes. Confused and worried, he started to sit up quickly, only for a stab of pain to hit him in the head.

“Easy, son,” a familiar voice said. “You took a nice smack to the head when you hit the floor so you should move slowly for a little bit.”

Kili turned his head and gave a small grimace. “Oin?”

“Aye, it’s me. You gave us a bit of a worry and there was some thought we might need to get you to a hospital, but then your breathing evened out and I told them to just let you rest and come out of it on your own. After all, that was a nasty bit of business back there.”

Kili sat up slowly, trying to make sense of his surroundings and the constant motion. The lights were out so it took him a moment for his eyes to adjust.

“Where are we?”

“Headed north in the bus. We decided it would be a good idea to leave a little early to head to New York. We’ll go North for a bit to get back to our own lands and then we’ll continue from there on to our next stop.”

Kili sighed, looking down at his hands. “I’m sorry.”

“For putting everyone else’s thoughts and concerns above your own well-being? You should be.”

Kili blinked at him. “Uhm…”

“If something causes you anxiety and worry, you need to start listening to your instincts and let the rest of us know, Kili. None of us would want you forced into a situation that you are not comfortable with.”

“I didn’t want my stupid issues to cause problems for the rest of the group,” Kili said quietly. “Everytime I try to control the panic attacks and sense of dread something seems to bite me in the ass. I don’t want to be the one that destroys everything we’ve worked for.”

Oin sighed. “Kili, do you trust me?”

Kili’s head snapped up in shock, his eyes wide. “Of course I do -- with my life and everything I am. I always have!”

“Then listen to me when I say that you are in no danger of letting anyone down or destroying a Mahal damned thing,” Oin said firmly. “What you have gone through -- both here and in your life before -- has left scars. Not all scars are marked by physical evidence and what your uncle and cousin did to you left you altered. However, you need to stop viewing those alterations as a weakness. Your sense of dread you feel before some events is your mind’s way of letting you know something isn’t right. Your panic attacks are the next level in your soul’s security system.”

“How do I figure out if it’s an overreaction or if something really is going on that I need to be on guard?”

“You stop trying to hide so much and you talk to one of your family members so we can help figure it out for you.”

Kili was silent for a long moment and then his next question was asked in a very quiet whisper. “What if he doesn’t want me because I’m not whole?”

“Kili, there is not a chance in hell that he’s not going to love you as fiercely as he always has. In fact, he will probably be all the fiercer when he finds out what you’ve been through.”

“I keep trying to hold onto that belief, but then things happen and I worry that I’ll fail him again like I did before.”

“You haven’t failed anyone, Kili. I promise you that.”

“How long until we get to the border?”

“About fifteen more hours. We’ve only been on the road for about six hours.”

“What happened after I blacked out?”

“Gandalf let them know that they’d be hearing from our lawyers and the manager fired Ms. Hanna Valentine.”

“Beorn will destroy them without even blinking.”

“That he will,” Oin agreed. “They got you back to the hotel and we all packed up while Dwalin and Legolas contacted your mother to let her know what happened before it showed up on the usual suspect news sites. They gave her the new game plan and a few hours later we were on the road.”

“Is Legolas alright?”

“He was pissed off enough to commit murder, but once he talked to your mother and we were in the bus driving north he was much better. I think he’s finally calmed down enough to remember shooting people full of arrows is frowned upon in this time.”

“Too bad.” Kili smiled faintly. “A quiver full would make dealing with some human beings so much easier.”

“Yes, but staying out of prison is an important thing that we need to keep doing.”

“True.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m guessing you want me to stay resting for awhile longer?”

“That would be best as you know I never like to take anything for granted with head injuries.”

“Can I at least get my keyboard?”

“Yeah, you can have the smaller set. I know better than to think you can go several hours without an instrument in your hands.”

Oin retrieved the portable keyboard from one of the cabinets and handed it to Kili. “I’m heading back up front but I’ll come check on you a few more times and your brother will probably be back here soon, as well.”

Kili nodded, but he was already moving his fingers gracefully along the keys as he began playing one of the covers that he and Legolas had been working on recently. He had always been a fan of Elton John, the Who, and Roger Daltrey and he loved the movie _Lost Boys_. It was one of his favorite movies.

_“I can't light no more of your darkness...All my pictures seem to fade to black and white...I'm growing tired and time stands still before me...Frozen here on the ladder of my life…”_

He heard Legolas’ guitar before he even realized he had come to the back area of their bus. He kept playing the song even as Legolas started singing the next verse.

_“Too late to stop myself from falling...I took a chance and changed your way of life...But you misread my meaning when I met you...Closed the door and left me blinded by the light…”_

Kili let himself sink deeper into the spell that their music always wound around him. It had not been an exaggeration when he and Legolas told the interviewer that music had long been their way of dealing with things that happened in their lives.

_“I can't find the right romantic line...But see me once and see the way I feel…”_ Legolas murmured the next line even as Kili pitched his voice to meld with his twin’s.

_“Don't discard me just because you think I mean you harm…But these cuts I have they need love to help them heal…”_

There was something that he felt was missing when they worked on this song each time. Everyone else always told him that it sounded perfect, but to Kili it was ever so slightly off. Which was why he kept working on it and fine tuning it a little more each time.

_“Don't let the sun go down on me...Although I search myself, it's always someone else I see...I'd just allow a fragment of your life to wander free...But losing everything is like the sun going down on me…”_


	16. Fili

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Fili muttered as he buried his face in his hands. “Are you telling me that mom thought that the ones who killed us before tried to kill Kili and Legolas in this time?”

“I can see Azog wanting to kill Kili, but why would Bolg want to kill Legolas?” Dori’s confusion was mirrored by the others in the room.

At least by most of the others.

Tauriel sighed, twisting her hands in her lap as she closed her eyes for a moment. “Because… Legolas was the one who killed Bolg after he killed Kili.”

All of the former dwarves and the hobbit whipped their heads around to stare at the former elf captain.

“I thought that Azog killed Kili when Kili went crazy and attacked him after I was killed?” Fili looked both confused and also concerned at the pallor of his sister's skin.

Tauriel shook her head slowly. “Kili may have lost his mind in his grief and rage and went after Azog that day, but it was Bolg that he found.”

Bilbo moved from Thorin’s chair and knelt beside Tauriel, taking her hands in his so that she had to open her eyes.

“Tauriel, sweetheart, how do you know that it was Bolg that killed Kili?”

To Fili’s distress, he could see that Tauriel’s eyes were filled with tears.

“I know, because last night, I remembered.”

“Remembered what?”

“That I was with Kili when he died and I couldn’t do a damn thing to help him.”

Fili moved to her side and wrapped an arm around her. “Tori… you should have told me. We’ve always told each other about the things that come back to us.”

“It hurt and I was scared.” She admitted in a quiet voice.

“Scared of what?”

“That you would be angry at me because I failed him and I would lose my family all over again.”

Fili frowned and met Thorin’s eyes over Tauriel’s head. They may not have had the chance to be friends in their former life, but in this lifetime, she was his sister and therefore she was family.

“Tauriel,” Thorin said gently. “We are not Thranduil, casting aside our family because they say something that we do not want to hear or disagree with. You are family to us and that is something that you will never lose, I swear it.” He paused. “You never told us… why did Thranduil banish you from his forest?”

“Because Legolas and I loved each other. He might have forgiven that once he was able to wed him to some other elf. However, I would not stay behind the closed walls of the kingdom when I knew that you were being hunted. I left in order to find your company and assist you, and because of that he was very angry.” Her lips twitched. “Pulling my bow on him probably added to that, as well.”

“You sighted your weapon on your king?” Gloin was impressed. “Why?”

“He was going to abandon the men of Dale and pull all of his warriors away from the fighting. He would have left all of you to be slaughtered by the orc army and that was wrong to me. No matter what he thought, the fight for freedom belonged to us all. Legolas stood with me when it looked like Thranduil was going to strike me down with his sword.”

“You never told me that, Tori.”

“The reasons weren’t important when we remembered and started looking for everyone.”

Fili leaned against his sister and friend in silence for a long moment. He could understand some of her worries and there were images and feelings from their previous life that he hadn’t told her. After all, why would he hurt her feelings by telling her that in their previous life he was jealous and angry that Kili had been so drawn to her?

“Tauriel?”

“Yes, Fili?”

“How did Kili die?”

Tauriel’s breath hitched. “Are you sure that you want to know?”

“It should not be your burden to carry alone, lass,” Balin said gently. “Being family means you share both the good and the bad… and we are your family.”

Bilbo nodded and rubbed his hands over Tauriel’s cold ones. “Tell us what happened, Tauriel, and let us help to soothe your mind.”

Tauriel sighed and then nodded. She kept her eyes down at her hands as she tried to find the least painful words to talk about what happened to Kili. She didn’t want them to hurt as much as she did from her new memories, but she also knew that it was a wishful thought. Kili had been loved but knowing he had died and knowing _how_ he had died were two completely different things.

“When I got to Ravenhill, I didn’t know what had already happened. The only news I had was that you were all going into an ambush. I didn’t know that Fili had… had fallen or how it had happened. I knew that I needed to find Kili. I thought that if I found Kili, Fili would be with him and I could warn them and then we could find the rest of you. In my mind and heart I knew -- or thought, anyway -- that the two of you would be close to each other and would not have parted even in the battle. I did not expect the condition that I found Kili in.”

“What condition was he in?” Thorin’s question was soft, wanting answers, but not wanting to cause his new niece by the weird circumstances of rebirth more distress than she was already feeling.

“He was… wild. I could see that he was bleeding from many different places, but he didn’t stop his fighting of the giant orc… fighting the one known as Bolg. He was like a storm, but there was no finesse in his movements. I knew then that there was something dreadfully wrong because he didn’t fight with the grace that I knew he possessed. After all, I had seen him taking on orcs in Mirkwood when the escape in the barrels happened. It hadn’t been until the arrow entered his leg that his grace faltered.” She shook her head. “I don’t remember exactly what happened, only that I was suddenly fighting by his side. I had shouted his name and even though he looked at me, I don’t think he really saw me. That’s when I knew for sure that something had wounded him beyond the physical. There was something different in his eyes, a madness that I had only seen in elves that had lost their companions or mates.” She turned her head to look at Fili. “I wanted so much to find you and bring you to him so you could help him, but I was also afraid to leave him. I don’t… I don’t think he was fighting for his survival. I think he wanted to kill Bolg even if it caused his own death at the same time.”

Fili sighed softly, running his hand over his face, but it was Thorin who answered the unasked question.

“Kili had just watched Fili be killed in front of him by Azog. He went crazy and attacked the orcs trying to get up the cliff to Azog, but when Dwalin and I tried to go after him, we were attacked by more orcs and that caused us to lose him.”

“Oh.” Tauriel’s shoulders drooped for a moment before she straightened up again. “That would explain the crazed look I saw in his eyes and why he wasn’t taking enough care to protect himself. I tried, I swear by the Maker that I tried to help keep him alive.” Tauriel took another breath, looking at Fili for a moment. "I'm not sure exactly what happened next, because there were so many images and so much of us fighting with that bastard. However, at some point, I felt a sharp flash of pain and then I was flying through the air. I hit the ground really hard and when my vision cleared, Bolg had Kili pinned to his leg. I couldn't get up and get to them. I saw Bolg hold Kili down as he stabbed an iron spike down into his chest. Kili look at me and as he died... as he died, I saw a tear run down his cheek and he called Fili's name." She swallowed. “I’m sure that Bolg planned to come after me, next, but then Legolas arrived and they went crashing through walls as they attacked each other.”

Everyone was quiet for a long moment, the only sounds in the room their breathing as they processed Tauriel’s memory of that last day for the line of Durin.

“So Azog and Bolg tried to kill them in this time?” Gloin sighed. “We need to figure out a way to get rid of those two bastards permanently.”

Thorin nodded in agreement. He was not going to allow reincarnated orcan murderers to continue to threaten his family. They had already almost destroyed Kili in this life and now that they had found him – and Legolas – he was going to make damn sure that they didn’t get close to them again.

“Bofur, did Dis’ private investigator track down Avery and Bradley?” Balin asked him.

Bofur sighed. “They snuck back across the border. Avery was killed by the Canadian police in a firefight at the hospital where Raven was being treated. Apparently Avery had decided that he was going to finish what he had started with the car accident. He managed to unplug some of Raven’s wires before a nurse alerted doctors and police. When police arrived, Avery tried to shoot his way out of the hospital after trying to smother Raven. He didn’t make it very far and was pronounced dead at the scene.”

“And what of Bradley?”

“He’s currently serving a life term in prison with no possibility of release.”

Fili wasn’t the only one that had a vocal opinion of all of those details.

“Why is he still alive?” Thorin demanded.

“Because Canada does not have the death penalty.” Dori said, looking up from his phone.

“If he’s in prison, then how was he able to call into the show tonight?” Tauriel asked.

“So are we in agreement that we’re pretty sure that it _was_ Bradley-Bolg who was on the phone when Kili collapsed?” Bilbo assumed.

Fili nodded. “I believe we are. Who else would have caused such a strong and panicked reaction from Kili and Legolas?”

“All right, but again, how did he know to call into that show to talk to the boys? If he’s in prison, wouldn’t he have needed to get some kind of special permission to make a phone call like that?” Bombur asked as he gestured around. “We only came across the show tonight by accident. I’ve also already looked at television listings and I haven't been able to find a schedule for that channel.” He waited for that information to sink into before talking again. “I know that Bofur is our resident hacker and computer genius, but shouldn’t I have at least been able to find a schedule for that show airing on that channel?”

“But that means that either someone told Bradley when the show was going to be on…” Radagast paused, trying not to say what he was thinking. He didn’t want to add any further worry onto the shoulders of his charges.

“Or that Bradley is no longer in jail and has been keeping tabs on those boys,” Bilbo finished grimly as he got to his feet and turned to Thorin. “We have to do something, Thorin. We can’t just let them be tormented by that creature even now. We’re supposed to be able to find our family and be happy -- as are they. I can’t just accept that what we saw on television can happen again to Kili at any time or that Bolg might be able to do something even worse to them.”

“We’ll find them and we’ll protect them, my heart,” Thorin said as he came to Bilbo and drew him to his chest. “I promise. We’ll reunite our family and will not let anyone hurt the boys ever again.”


	17. Kili

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the tour bus with the West Coast group and some things become common knowledge.

Dwalin finished his discussion with Nori in the driver’s seat and then made his way back to the table where Ori and Gimli were sitting with their laptops. He looked around as he sat down, spotting Bifur sprawled across one of the seats and Oin was at their kitchen area making something on the stove that Dwalin probably didn’t want to know about.

Once more he had to shake his head at the extravagance of their bus. He hadn’t expected something like this until the band made the international big time -- but Dis was having none of that waiting bullshit. If her family was going to be on the road for long periods of time then they were going to travel in comfort and style.

“Beorn will be joining us once we cross into Victoria,” Gimli said, not looking up from the documentation in front of him.

“Yeah?” Dwalin commented, shaking his head. “Says who?”

“Says me,” a very firm female voice came through the laptop screen on the table that he hadn’t even noticed was on. “I want him with you guys from now on in case anyone else tries to get around the legalities you have put in place for your appearances, Dwalin.”

“Hello, love,” he said, his voice warming as it always did when he was speaking with his wife. “I didn’t know you were on the line.”

“I called in while you were speaking to Nori.” She smiled, but her eyes were full of worry. “How are they doing?”

Dwalin sighed, looking towards the back of the bus where the partition that separated the sleeping quarters from the rest of the bus had been pulled shut. He could hear faint strains of music drifting from there and then looked back at his wife.

“Kili is withdrawn and a bit quiet. Oin says he has a concussion from where his head struck the floor but he'll be all right.” At least he would physically. Emotionally was still an unknown. “Legolas… well, you know how he gets when his brother is hurt or upset. He's furious, worried, and feeling guilty.”

“There's nothing for him to feel guilty about. He had no way of knowing that any of this was going to happen.”

“You know that, and I know that. Your son, on the other hand, is a mite bit stubborn.”

“Which puts him in good company with you,” Dis said dryly.

Dwalin pretended to look affronted, but he had loved those boys for most of their lives and couldn't deny that he could be quite stubborn when pushed as well.

“We can hear music from back there but whether it is new music they’re creating or stuff that is well-known and comforting we can't say.”

“They’re playing _Hamilton_ stuff,” Ori said helpfully, not looking up from the notebook he was writing in from one of the sofas.

“How do you know?”

Ori raised his hand and started doing a count when he reached the count of five, they definitely heard a loud riff of music from one of the keyboards and then Kili and Legolas’ voices singing clearly.

“ _Death doesn't discriminate_  
_Between the sinners_  
_And the saints_  
_It takes and it takes and it takes_  
_And we keep living anyway_  
_We laugh and we cry_  
_And we break_  
_And we make our mistakes…_ ”

Dwalin sighed, looking around the bus at the others he could see clearly before looking back at the computer and Dis. “It sounds like they are working out their emotional upheaval in the usual way.”

Dis shook her head, smiling at him. “At least it’s _Hamilton_ this time, love. Remember when it was _Jesus Christ Superstar_ all day every day?”

“Don’t remind me,” Dwalin groaned. “I have never been so tempted to lock up all instruments somewhere than I was during that particular musical phase.” He glared at Gimli. “It also didn’t help that _someone_ found a modern remake that he and the twins forever called, and I quote, _BDSM According to Jesus Christ_.”

Dis couldn’t help it and she started laughing. “I thought that they were going to get expelled from fourth grade when they started singing those songs and telling anyone who asked that the name of the musical was really _BDSM According to Jesus Christ_.”

“Yes,” her husband drawled. “You were so worried that you were in hysterics at the meeting with the principal and the counselor. Between you and their music teacher I don’t think the school officials quite expected that much laughter over something that they thought was such a serious problem.”

“The principal and counselor were morons,” Gimli offered. “I noticed that when we showed you the dvd, Dwalin, you admitted that the name fit.”

“Just because the name fit didn’t mean that they should have been telling everyone that was the name of the movie they were getting their songs from at the time.” He lifted an eyebrow. “And how did fourth and fifth graders even know what the term BDSM meant?”

Gimli laughed. “Do you really want me to answer that question?”

“On second thought, you’re right. Don’t tell me as I have no more hair to lose and I don’t want my face to go bald from stress as well.”

That caused everyone nearby to laugh at the drummer.

Dwalin flipped them all off and then turned back to the computer. “And love, how are you doing?”

Dis sighed. “I’m upset and worried, Dwalin. There is no way that bastard should have been able to be near a phone. One of my contacts is doing some looking to see if Bradley is still in prison or if he managed to escape and they _forgot_ to tell me about it.”

“Maybe Beorn should stay near you, then,” he didn’t try to hide the worry from his face and voice.

“Nonsense. I have Gabrielle and her boys with me and Lobelia is almost as deadly of a lawyer as Beorn. I’ll be in good hands.”

“Lobelia is definitely frightening. It’s hard to believe she and Beorn are related.”

“She is perfectly lovely, Dwalin.”

“For a soul-sucking barracuda.”

Gimli and Ori both snorted but knew better than to vocally insult one of Dis’ friends. If Dwalin was willing to risk his balls by doing that, they were not going to assist or join him in his fall.

Dis narrowed her eyes. “She thinks quite highly of you.”

“No, love. She thinks highly of you. Me she would like tear into tiny pieces and mail them to several countries until I am the most lost and spread out jigsaw puzzle ever.”

“Why would you even think such a thing?”

“Because she told me so herself on our wedding day, love.”

“She’s always been a little bit overprotective.”

“And hence we see where Kili gets his talent of understatement from.”

“I see someone is planning on keeping his pants on _and_ sleeping in the guest room when he returns home…”

Dwalin was pretty sure that he felt his face pale at those words. “Now love, let’s not be hasty. You and I both know that no matter how long she has known me, Lobelia doesn’t think I am deserving of you. Sweets, she has never thought anyone deserved you especially after Vili -- the bloody bastard -- disappeared on you. I could be the richest, handsomest, most princely man in the world and Lobelia would still hate me. It doesn’t bother me, no matter how much I complain. I find it pretty funny, actually.”

As did everyone else who had seen the “nothing foot five” Lobelia Sackville go toe to toe with the six foot four Dwalin Fundin.

“Plus, it makes me feel a bit better to know that you have such a dangerous barracuda with you when I’m not there. I can sleep a little easier at night because I know for a fact that Lobelia will not allow anyone within a hundred feet of you if she doesn’t like or trust them.”

Dis sighed and the scowl slipped from her face even as the corners of her lips twitched. “She’s been my best friend for most of my life so we have gotten a bit overly protective of each other over the years. I am the same way with anyone that tries to get involved with her.”

“And that is generally not a bad thing, love,” Dwalin said with a gentle smile. “There’s no harm in having a good relationship with a best friend or friends like you guys do. She and I may fuss and fight with each other, but we respect each other and know that when shit hits the fan we both will be right there at your side to mess things up for someone.”

Dis laughed. “And I can almost feel sorry for someone who causes that to happen. Not really sorry, but almost.”

Oin came out from where he had been working on their lunch in the kitchen to join them at the table.

“Kili is beating himself up again and not listening to the warnings his own subconscious keeps trying to give him.”

Dwalin looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“He never wanted to do that interview or that show,” he said, shaking his head. “He did it because he didn’t want to let us down or cause issues for the group by getting a reputation for being difficult to work with.”

Ori and Gimli let out unhappy sounds at the same time.

“We keep trying to tell him that nothing he is going to do can let us down,” Ori protested. “My gods, everything we have managed to do so far has been because of him and Legolas. When we were first just playing and practicing in our rooms, yards, garages, wherever we could find, none of us could have imagined getting to where we are now!”

Gimli sighed. “He -- and Legolas to a lesser extent -- take too much responsibility for things that are not of their doing. Legolas did that during the war, as well. He felt that he had failed when to fulfill his vow to Frodo when Frodo and Sam parted from us to try and find their way to Mordor and Mount Doom by themselves.”

Dis shook her head. “But, that was the only choice Bilbo’s boy could have made -- and there was no way that the ever loyal Sam was going to let him go alone. They needed to part from you guys in order to give them a chance and give you guys a chance to be where you were needed, as well. It was only because the three of you were chasing the orcs who had taken Merry and Pippin that you were in the right place to meet up with Gandalf again and free Theoden from what Saruman had done to him! Theoden being freed helped Gondor at the Pellinor Fields! That allowed you and Legolas to be with Aragorn when he went to raise the army of the dead to win the battle and save the day!”

“I know that and he was made to understand that much later, but at the time?” Gimli shrugged. “He… he took a lot of responsibility and I think some of it was because he felt he had failed before.”

“Failed how?” Dwalin askes, and he wasn’t the only one listening to Gimli that was confused.

“He felt that he failed our people by not being able to do more during the battle for Erebor.”

“He stood with the dwarves and men even when his father was going to walk away,” Dis said aghast. “Yes, it took him some time to do what he felt needed to be done, but that was not on his shoulders. The events had been set out long before and there was no way he could have stopped that second army from reaching Ravenhill in time.”

“So, when he met Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin… he was reminded of Fili and Kili,” Ori murmured. “From what I recall of Merry and Pippin, they were a great deal like the Princes. That must have been a little bit painful for him, then; especially after what happened and being too soon to stop Bolg from killing Kili.”

“Which brings to mind a question I have often wondered about, laddie,” Oin said, leveling his gaze at Ori. “How did you happen to know that it was Bolg that killed Kili before? All of us had been under the assumption that Azog had found him before he got to Thorin or something like that.”

Ori sighed and then shrugged. “Tauriel told me once, many years later.”

There was dead silence in their surrounding area as everyone turned to Ori in surprise.

“I never knew yu came across the she-elf again, Ori,” Dwalin commented, cocking his head at him.

Ori shifted in his seat. “It was… it was during the travels to Moria and the time there before we were overrun by the orcs, goblins and whatever else was there that was picking us off a bit at a time. In fact, not only did I see her a few times in our travels to there, she came into Moria to help us fight. She had been exiled from Mirkwood by Thranduil before the events at Erebor for refusing to stay locked up and following after the orcs hunting us after she found out Kili had been poisoned by that orcish arrow. I’m guessing that even after Thranduil had a change of heart about many things following that, Tauriel never approached him to have her banishment reversed.”

“So he banished her for doing the right thing?” Dis questioned.

“Yes, he did. Who knows, maybe he came to regret that, but she never spoke to him again after that.” He shrugged. “I’m not sure what happened to her once we lost track of each other during the fighting and when Balin was killed. I don’t know if she was killed out on one of the raids of if she was taken down by something else or even if she somehow managed to survive.”

“So that’s why Bolg always hated Legolas and why he tried so hard to kill him while Azog went after Kili.”

Oin sighed. “I wasn’t surprised by Azog. He had killed Fili and Thorin, but hadn’t been able to keep his vow to kill Kili, as well. I guess in this time he decided to do everything he could to make up for that.”

“Thankfully he failed in that.” Gimli said, shaking his head.

“Not for lack of trying.”

No one had anything to say in response to Dis’ observation. It was true, Azog had gone above and beyond to the point of overkill in his attempt to murder Kili this time. He had failed, but not without leaving a great deal of damage in his wake.


	18. Fili

“Holy shit,” Bofur suddenly breathed from where he had been searching out things on his laptop. The others turned to look to him, only to see him shaking his head. He didn’t seem to be in distress, only very surprised.

“Bofur?” Gloin asked in confusion. “Are you all right?”

“Did you find more reports about what happened to Kili?” This was from Balin.

“No, nothing like that,” Bofur was quick to assure them. “I’m just confused and surprised.”

“Confused about what?” Dori asked.

“With as much time as all of us have spent on YouTube how did we never fucking come across the videos that Kili and Legolas or _Chasing Ravens_ uploaded over the last few years?”

“They’re on YouTube?” Balin shook his head.

“They’re fucking YouTube stars according to how many people are subscribed to their channel.”

“If we had only seen their videos, we could found them a whole lot sooner,” Bombur said as he looked over Bofur’s shoulder to his screen. “They have a channel and everything and I don’t understand why at least one of us never saw anything of theirs over the last few years when they were being very prolific.”

“I think they’ve done covers from just about every genre imaginable,” Bofur hummed as he looked over the long list of videos on his screen. “Here, let me project this to the screen. Someone change to the input channel. Man, I love having the ability to share the computers to our television. Much easier than all of us trying to gather around a laptop or computer screen like we would have had to a few years ago.”

“You could just use the blu-ray player and log into YouTube from there,” Fili pointed out dryly, only for Bofur to wave him off as he took his seat again.

The YouTube screen and then a list of channels showed up on the TV and so all of them settled back into seats to watch what Bofur wanted to show them.

“This first one looks like it was uploaded shortly before the accident and him going into the hospital,” the man murmured as he cued it up. “The upload date is from six years ago and he looks different than how we’ve seen him so far. However… well, you’ll see…”

The video started and it showed Raven and Corvid standing in a plain room in front of microphones. Raven started playing his violin even as Corvid started moving his fingers along the strings of his guitar.

“The notes say that this is a song called ‘All The Way Down’ originally by Voltaire.”

Now, Tauriel and Fili were even more interested. Everyone in their family knew how much the two of them enjoyed music by Aurelio Voltaire.

“ _The sun goes down while children listen, all the way down. Black as a crow is the space in which you left me standing. All the way down._ ” The voice singing the song was soft and full of emotion. “ _If you’d seen the light of day, I’d hold you here tonight. And if you’d seen the light we’d go, all the way down._ ”

Fili swallowed as he watched the image of his younger brother in the video. Bofur was right, this had to be before everything that had happened to him. His hair was shorter and pulled back from his face. The only make-up he wore was some black eyeliner that made his brown eyes look even darker. He wasn’t sure if the brown was his natural eye color or another pair of his beloved contact lenses Legolas had spoken of, but he didn’t care right now. There was a lightness about him that they hadn’t seen in his more recent performances. However, he also seemed like he was losing himself in the music, and that was something that Fili did enjoy seeing. He wondered if the video channel would be a progression through Kili growing into his music and becoming the performer they had seen on television these past two nights.

He watched, trying not to lean forward as Kili brought up his violin and bowed his head when he started playing. He watched those hands on the bow and the neck of the instrument bring music from his instrument and was struck by how fluidly his brother seemed to be able to coax all kinds of emotion from the violin as he played. Distantly, Fili heard Legolas start singing the next verse, but he couldn’t pull his eyes away from Kili to even look at the other musician. Kili was good with the instrument, though it wasn’t as much of an extension of him as they had seen in the performance earlier that evening. He wondered if it was something that happened after the attack.

How different the last few years might have been for all of them if any of his family had seen this video sooner. He knew how the people who got their start on YouTube set up their videos when they uploaded them. There would have been some kind of contact information at the end of the video for interested people to get in touch with them. If they had only seen these videos long ago, then would their entire family have been reunited much sooner? Would he have been able to protect Kili from all that had befallen him in this new lifetime?

In the video, Kili lowered the violin to sing the next part of the song. Fili could only imagine that his One must have been really happy when he was able to afford a state of the art headset that allowed him to hold his violin close in position even while singing. And if he didn’t have one of those pieces of necessary equipment as of yet, well, they would make sure he got one as soon as possible. It would only make it easier for Kili to make his music, and probably Legolas, too. He wondered if these videos would show any of the other band members of _Chasing Ravens_. Knowing how many of them were with Kili and Legolas would at least give them an idea of how many more they needed to track down before they could be the one family they had been before.

“ _I can’t believe in Hell, but I’ve got to believe in Heaven. I wouldn’t sleep at night not knowing that you were somewhere better.”_ Fili could feel his eyes burning at the pain in Kili’s voice as he sang those words. “ _If you burned your wings and fell into my arms, you know I wouldn’t mind being … All the way down…_ ”

The song ended and changed to Raven and Corvid talking about who they were and what they were doing… and how to get in touch with them if viewers enjoyed their music. Fili couldn’t help the sad smile over how happy and at ease the two of them looked. They seemed so young and excited with no hints of the pain that would soon fall upon them.

“How could we have missed all of this?” Tauriel asked as she brought up her own YouTube account. “With all of the music we listen to and all of the research we do on other groups, one of us should have had them show up in our recommended for you lists.” Fili didn’t need to look at her screen to know she was doing a search for the _Chasing Ravens_ channel to add to her following list. He would be doing the same later since his laptop was still in his own bedroom.

“Maybe the gods didn’t want us to find him,” someone mused. 

Fili didn’t know who it was, but he didn’t like that answer.

“Then the gods should have done a better job of protecting them,” Bilbo snapped out in unusual anger.

“Do you guys want to see more,” Bofur asked as he looked up from his laptop. “It looks like the next video is dated after he woke up from his coma and was released from the hospital.”

“I want to watch as much as we can,” Thorin made the decision for all of them and Fili sighed in relief. “We need to gather as much information as we can about everything connected to Kili, Legolas, their band and their family life. The videos they did themselves seem to be a good place to start.” He looked at Gloin who was already working on his machine. “I want as many names as we can get that are connected to _Chasing Ravens_ in any way shape or form. Bofur, transfer the connection to the main computer system so you can use your system to keep digging into anything that has to do with the accident and what Kili and Legolas went through. Dori, you focus on getting information about _Chase International_. I want to know if there is any room for anyone to make trouble for Dis so we can nip it in the bud. Mahal knows that we have enough money to make sure that she doesn’t need to worry about anything and the boys don’t have to struggle for anything they need.” His lips twitched. “I don’t care how rich she is in her own right, she’s still family and we look out for family.”

While Thorin was parsing out assignments, Fili went to his bedroom and retrieved one of his notebooks and a set of pens. He was going to be taking notes on the videos they were watching. They were all aware that music was a good way to express yourself and he knew that he would be able to put together some in depth ideas and answers about Kili from the videos. He expected that Tauriel would be doing the same thing in regards to Legolas. He came back out into the large living room and settled back into his chair. After nodding at Thorin, his uncle started playing the next video.

Fili immediately noticed the differences between the boys in the first video and the ones in this video. Kili and Legolas were both much more pale and Kili was very thin. There were shadows beneath the eyes of both boys, but Kili’s were so dark they looked like bruises. Kili played with more focus, but Fili could see that his eyes were tight with pain. He must have still been in a lot of physical pain when they did this video.

“The tag on this video says that it’s called _Somewhere_ by Within Temptation,” Balin read from the system.

Kili wasn’t holding his violin, but Legolas was playing the guitar. Kili was grasping the microphone stand in his hands as he started singing and Fili had to bite the inside of his cheek so that he didn’t react to the unaltered pain in his One’s singing voice.

“ _Lost in the darkness, hoping for a sign… Instead there’s only silence, can’t you hear my screams? Never stop hoping, need to know where you are. But one thing’s for sure, you’re always in my heart…_ ”

“There’s so much emotion in those lyrics,” Bilbo breathed, his head tilted as he looked at the screen. He was sitting on the arm of Thorin’s chair again, and Thorin wrapped an arm around him. “I wonder…”

“Wonder what, Bilbo?” Fili didn’t look up from his notebook as he asked the question.

“Not yet. I’m trying to put my thoughts together, my dear.”

“ _I’ll find you somewhere. I’ll keep on trying until my dying day… I just need to know. Whatever has happened, the truth will free my soul…_ ”

Those lines caused everyone to jerk in place and Fili lifted his head to stare at Kili on the screen. The former dwarf prince had his eyes closed even as his hands slid along the microphone. His face was expressive even with his eyes hidden from them.

“He’s remembering…” Fili breathed. He didn’t know how he was so sure of that, but he knew he was right.

“That would explain why he seems to be identifying so much with these lyrics,” Radagast agreed. “That’s what you thought, wasn’t it, Bilbo?”

Their hobbit nodded as he turned to look at Thorin. “It wouldn’t be all that surprising to me if his entire memory of his former life came to him when he was dying, love. Such trauma would have been powerful enough to trigger all kinds of things in his brain.”

“But he’s been singing his Misty Mountains song since he was a toddler,” Balin reminded them all.

“So?” This time it was Bombur that commented. “I knew things I didn’t understand or have any reference for when I was a child. That didn’t mean I remembered everything. Not all of us were born with full memories as Thorin, Bilbo and Fili were. I would venture that he probably had information that he couldn’t identify from the time he was born and then his near death opened the floodgates. Probably the same with Legolas, as well since they’re twins.” He pointed at the screen. “Look at the concern on Legolas’ face as he’s playing and watching Kili. Something has changed in their minds.”

“That could be just from what they have been through, though,” Balin pointed out. “I want them to remember us as much as you do, but I don’t want to get up too much hope until we meet them face to face. We may have to work to get their minds to come forward and know us.”

“They have Gandalf,” Radagast said. “They know at least something from before. It was only when all of you started remembering as a group that we found each other.”

“He remembers something,” Fili said softly. “I don’t know how I know this, but I do. It’s in the song.”

" _Lost in the darkness, tried to find my way home. I want to embrace you and never let you go. Almost hope you’re in heaven so no one can hurt your soul. Living in agony ‘cause I just do not know where you are…_ ”

“He knows,” Fili said with more surety than he had ever felt in anything. “He remembers me.”

_I’ll find you somewhere. I’ll keep on trying until my dying day… I just need to know. Whatever has happened, the truth will free my soul…_ ”

Legolas let his guitar fade into silence, even as Kili sang the final words of the song without musical back-up.

“ _Wherever you are, I won’t stop searching… Whatever it takes me to know…_ ”

Fili didn’t realize that his eyes had filled with tears until he felt one sliding down his face. There was such pain and sorrow in Kili’s voice as he sang those words that he knew there was only reason he was so sad.

“He remembered my death,” Fili whispered. “He remembered my death while he was fighting for his own life and he was trying to find me even when he was trying to recover from his terrible injuries.”

“Of course he was trying to find you no matter what shape he was in,” Bilbo said softly. “He loved you. There is no way that as soon as he remembered what happened that he wouldn’t need to see you again.”

“We know where he is now, sister-son,” Thorin rumbled softly. “We know where he is and we’ll get us all back together again.”

“I know,” he said softly. “I know. It’s just… I’ve been looking for him for so long. If we had only known about his music and their YouTube channel years ago, we could have saved him from all of that and we could have been together.”

“There’s no point on looking backwards and thinking about what might have been,” Radagast said somberly. “We can’t change yesterday, only work with today and tomorrow. We know where almost all of them are, now. We now have to do our research and make sure we know as much as we can so that when we finally see them all face to face we can fix the fraying threads of souls and lives and finish the connections.”

“I just want him here, in my arms, where I know he’s safe and breathing.” Even more now that he knew how Kili had died before.

“Soon, nephew, as soon as we can. I promise.”


	19. Kili

By the time they finally crossed over into Canada, the twins had given in and allowed their exhausted bodies to fall into a natural sleep and the rest of the group were able to relax a little bit more. They had all been riding their tensions high, looking out every window whenever traffic caused them to slow down too much. Getting back into Canada allowed them all to breathe a sigh of relief because this was a place that they just _felt _down to their bones was home. Oh, maybe it wasn't as rocky or full of woods and wilderness as Middle Earth had been, but their homeland now was the closest that they had ever come to that feeling. They still had a few miles before they would be meeting up with Beorn in Victoria, so most of the crew were either sleeping or doing whatever their minds or hands were drawn to do.hought was very odd.__

__Gimli was tapping on his laptop, doing some research on the group that they were going to be auditioning for in a few days. He couldn't find any photos of them online, which he thought was very odd. After all, with as popular as they apparently were, and with as big of an online presence as they had, certainly they would have some photos somewhere?_ _

__However, no matter where he went to, there were either no photos posted or broken links that just wouldn't load._ _

__"Maybe it's the connection." Gandalf offered from where he was going over paperwork. "We are traveling in a bus."_ _

__"We have satellite," Gimli pointed out. "We should be getting perfect connection no matter where we are unless we're in a tunnel or going through a massive storm. As you can see out the window there is not a cloud in the sky and no tunnels, either."_ _

__"Why does it bother you so much that you don't know what they look like?"_ _

__Gimli sighed, looking around to make sure no one else was paying attention to their conversation. "Because what happened in Los Angeles was my fault. I should have done more research or something into Hanna Valentine. I should have quizzed her or something that she understood exactly what was in the contract she and the producer signed. I should have... could have... done something to protect Kili from what happened to him back there."_ _

__Gandalf shook his head. "No, you couldn't have done anything different than you did, Gimli. You were amazingly diligent. You are their friend and their public relations person. You give the contracts, you find and set up the appearances and the shows. You make sure that they are there and everything they need is on hand. You have no way of checking or knowing if someone is going to pull something underhanded. There was no way for you to know that Bolg was going to be able to call into the show. I'm the wizard and _I_ had no clue that he was going to be able to call into the show." He gave Gimli a sad smile. "I know you want to protect them from every bad thing that happens, but you cannot beat yourself up for not being able to see every possible event that can happen."_ _

__"It's just frustrating, Gandalf. I'm supposed to be the one that sets up things for them and makes sure they're going into a safe situation and it got all fucked up beyond imagining."_ _

__"And that had nothing at all to do with your dedication and planning, Gimli. You did all the right things and checked everything that you were supposed to check. There was not any way for you to know that the bastard would get to a phone or even know to call into the show. There was no damn way any of could have known _how_ he would know that the boys were going to be on the show last night."_ _

__"Which brings us to another problem -- how in the fires of Mordor was he able to call into a public access show that has no set schedule and while he is supposed to be locked so far away from the public that rats can't get to his shit?"_ _

__Gandalf raised an eyebrow at Gimli's very colorful description of things but it was something that they were all wondering. Not only should Bolg have not been able to have gotten access to a phone as a condition of his incarceration for the severity of his crimes; but he should not have known where to call in the first place. That caused some very disturbing thoughts to take root in his mind._ _

__"He's out, isn't he?"_ _

__"We don't know that."_ _

__"What else could it be, Gandalf? You heard Dis, she's concerned about it, as well. She said as much to us and Dwalin earlier. He's somehow managed to escape and he's either stalking the boys or he has some other way of keeping tabs on them."_ _

__"And how would he be managing to keep tabs on them? None of our equipment is trackable thanks to me and Nori, and no one but family is part of the crew. This bus can't even have a tracking unit attached to it because it will explode and reveal itself after one hundred feet."_ _

__"Magic, maybe?" Gandalf raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't know, Gandalf. I just know that the bastard that killed Kili back in Middle Earth and helped his father almost kill him and Legolas this time is able to make phone calls to shows he shouldn't have access to and send Kili into such a state of panic and shock that he tries to escape, gets hurts and is unconscious for a few hours. Because of that his twin, my best friend is freaked out, angry and worried that the bastard that almost killed them is going to attack them again and this time will succeed in killing Kili because he won't fucking worry that maybe he has just as big of a target on his back since he killed Bolg before."_ _

__"He is aware of it but he knows that Bolg will try to take out Kili first."_ _

__"But why?"_ _

__"Synchronicity, Gimli. He killed Kili in their last life and when his father failed to get his hands on him in Middle Earth, Bolg killed him. This time, Azog once again failed to kill Kili, dying for his troubles in trying to do so twice. Therefore, Bog will first try to kill Kili and then he will turn his attention to Legolas." Gandalf sighed. "Legolas knows he is in danger, but he also knows that Kili is in the most danger. He's safe while Kili is alive."_ _

__"That's just fucked up."_ _

__"I know that and he knows that. The point is, we have to keep both boys safe and alive so we can kill that murdering orc for once and for all."_ _

__"And what's to keep him from being reincarnated again down the line to attempt to kill them in another life?"_ _

__Gimli was positive he had never seen anything as frightening in his life as the look in Gandalf's eyes when he smiled at him in response to his question. It was a look he hoped was never directed at him._ _

__"Me."_ _


	20. Fili

“Oh,” Tauriel said with a small smile. “The next song is uhm… a bit different than what we’ve seen so far if he hasn’t changed it too much.”

“What is it?”

“It's a cover of Lady Gaga’s Marry the Night.”

The music was indeed more upbeat and Fili couldn’t believe the difference in Kili between the slow songs and the faster ones he did.

Kili didn’t have an instrument in this video. Instead, he had a wireless microphone and the way he was dressed was…

“Wow.” Bofur coughed. “That’s a… that’s a different look for him, isn’t it?”

Kili was dressed in a pair of very tight black jeans and a sleeveless black vest. His eyes were outlined in very dark eyeliner and his lips were painted a deep maroon that looked almost like blood. His black hair hung free with the exception of a few small braids on each side of his head that were pulled back from his face to be held at the back of his head.

“His neck,” Thorin suddenly spoke. “He did the tattoo we saw before.”

Fili watched as Kili danced around the screen singing and he saw the tattoo of his brother’s old rune on the side of his neck. “So… he did the tattoo sometime after the attack. Proof that he started remembering things.”

“He has so much energy in his dancing, just like he did in his archery before.” Balin sighed, a small smile on his face as he watched his former charge performing in the video.

During the chorus, whoever was working the camera moved away from Kili to pan over other members of the band. Legolas was playing keyboards, but there were two new faces playing lead guitar and bass on this song.

“That’s Ori… and Bifur!”

The two other members of the group looked a few years older than the twins, but Fili could see that it was indeed two of their lost members.

“Looks like Kili and Legolas wasted no time trying to track others of us down,” Gloin mused, watching the four young men playing. “The date on this video is two months after the last one we watched.”

“Maybe they already knew them but didn’t _know_ who they were,” Dori murmured as he watched one of his long lost brothers playing guitar in the video on the screen. “After all, Bombur and I were dorm mates before our memories came crashing into our heads.”

“But look at Bifur,” Gloin pointed out. “If they have been friends all of this time, do you think he would have let that bastard Bolg near them no matter if he had memories or not?”

“Maybe Bolg didn’t register as an enemy of his friends until the day he attacked. It’s completely possible that they didn’t have any warning about the danger their friends were in.” Bilbo pointed out reasonably. “Because even Ori looks to be more built than the twins are.”

Fili would have commented but he was busy now staring at Kili and feeling his jaw drop. “How did he learn to move like that?” His voice came out in a squeak as he watched his One slide to the floor into the splits and then roll over onto his back and get to his feet -- hips first. Then he did another move with his hips that was anything but innocent.

Thorin cleared his throat. “I think that I could have died happy never having seen my nephew look like he was having sex on screen.” The former king shook his head.

The other musicians in the group hadn’t even paused in their performance as Kili sang and danced in the small area in front of them. In fact, they didn’t seem to break stride as they moved and played in time to Kili’s voice.

“I wonder how long they’ve been playing together,” Tauriel said quietly. “They look almost like they are one unit in their performance. They’re very fluid and smooth together.”

When the song came to the final words, all of the musicians slid to their knees on either side of Kili and the four of them swayed together as Kili finished singing.

“ _Leave nothin’ on these streets to explode…_ ”

Fili ran sweaty hands down his legs and shook his head even as the video changed to the band members telling people to let them know if they liked them and how to help them get their music out to more people.

“Mahal’s Hammer,” he finally breathed. “Was that a music video or a porn video?”

“You mean there’s a difference,” Bofur commented.

“If it’s Kili in the video then there had better be,” Fili heard himself growling.

“Ah, now that possessiveness sounds quite familiar,” Gloin laughed.

Fili turned to look at him in confusion. “Familiar?”

“Ah, lad,” Balin laughed. “You were always quite possessive of Kili and had strong reactions to anyone getting too close to him in your eyes.”

“I wasn’t always possessive of him!”

“Oh no, you were, nephew,” Thorin agreed with the others. “Even as children. He was yours and you made it known to everyone that you were not willing to share his time or his attention.”

“But I didn’t realize he was my One until he got shot with that arrow when we were escaping Mirkwood!”

This time it was Dori who shook his head. “That may be when you admitted it to yourself, Fili, but you had known long before then. Even Ori realized that the two of you were meant to be together.”

“How… what do you mean Ori knew?” That seemed to be the safest question to ask.

“The day of your funerals,” Dori said quietly even as Bilbo grabbed Thorin’s hand. “That night, after the ceremonies, Ori said that the only good thing about the outcome was that you and Kili were still together because if you had died and Kili had survived the battle…” Dori swallowed hard. “He said that Kili would have ended up following you anyway. I asked him what he meant and he seemed surprised that I didn’t know. He said that one of you could not have lived without the other because you weren’t only brothers, you were two halves of one soul. He said that it was so obvious that you were each others’ Ones and Kili would have found a way to follow you if he had survived the battle. He would have either just laid down and died or he would have helped nature along.”

“You’re saying he would have taken his own life. He wouldn’t have done that. Not Kili.”

“Oh, Fili.” Bilbo sighed shaking his head. “I saw how Kili reacted after you fell from the cliff. You landed right in front of him and I saw the look on his face and in his eyes because I was watching him while the others were watching to see what Azog was going to do. It was like he was already dead but his body hadn’t caught up with that knowledge yet.”

Fili shook his head, trying very hard not to visualize what they were all telling him. That someone had realized that Kili was his One in their last life was something he had never known. He had thought it was his secret to hold back then and had planned on telling Kili after the battle.

The battle that was far worse than any of them had expected.

The battle that neither one of them had survived.

It had been part of the reason behind his drive this time to find Kili as soon as he was able to. He didn’t want to take the chance of losing his One again. It had hit him deeply earlier when they had found out how close Kili had come to dying in this lifetime when he was still mostly a child. It had scared him and made him angry that someone could hurt Kili so easily in this time. Kili was such a loving person and no one should ever seek to harm him. He knew that if Bolg was still alive and out there then he would need to hunt him down and destroy him before he could harm his Kili again.


End file.
